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Word Study · Homophones

Homophones: hear/here, see/sea, week/weak, meet/meat

Sort out pairs of words that sound alike but are spelled differently, use memory tricks, and choose the right spelling by checking the meaning.

Grades 3–5 · 16 practice questions · Original material
Learning objectiveChoose the correct spelling of common homophone pairs by checking the meaning of the sentence, and use a memory trick to remember which spelling goes with which meaning.

The idea

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Hear and here sound exactly alike, yet one is about your ears and the other is about a place.

A spell checker will not catch most homophone mistakes because both spellings are real words. The only reliable check is to ask: which meaning do I need in this sentence?

Memory tricks help. Hear has ear in it. Sea and see: the sea is a thing, and see is what you do with your eyes (the double e looks like two eyes). Weak and week: week has ee and seven days can feel long. Meat and meet: meat has eat in it, and meet has the double e of two people coming together.

Say the sentence in your head with the meaning, not the sound. If you are still unsure, test the word: can I put 'a' or 'the' before it? Nouns such as sea, week, meat and hole can; verbs such as hear, see and meet cannot.

Word bank

hear

verb · HEER

to notice a sound with your ears

Example: We could hear the geese before we saw them.

here

adverb · HEER

in or at this place

Example: Please put your boots here.

see

verb · SEE

to notice with your eyes

Example: I can see the moon tonight.

sea

noun · SEE

a large area of salt water

Example: The ship sailed across the sea.

week

noun · WEEK

seven days in a row

Example: We have gym class twice a week.

weak

adjective · WEEK

not strong

Example: My arms felt weak after the long swim.

meet

verb · MEET

to come together with someone

Example: We meet our friends at the library.

meat

noun · MEET

the flesh of an animal used as food

Example: The chili has beans and meat.

blue

adjective · BLOO

the colour of a clear daytime sky

Example: She wore a blue toque.

blew

verb · BLOO

moved air out of the mouth or moved by wind (past tense of blow)

Example: The wind blew the leaves across the yard.

whole

adjective · HOLE

all of something; complete

Example: I ate the whole sandwich.

hole

noun · HOLE

an empty space dug or worn in something

Example: The dog dug a hole near the fence.

one

number · WUN

the number 1

Example: I have one pencil.

won

verb · WUN

got first place; past tense of win

Example: Our team won the relay.

Worked examples

Example 1 · Use a memory trick

Choose: "I can ___ the lake from my window." (see / sea)

  1. Ask what the word must do: you use your eyes to notice the lake, so it is an action.
  2. See is the action word. Sea is a thing, a body of salt water.
  3. Put see in: I can see the lake.

see

Example 2 · Check the part of speech

Choose: "The ___ ended with a long weekend." (week / weak)

  1. The word follows 'The', so it must be a noun.
  2. Weak is an adjective, so it does not fit after the.
  3. Week is a noun meaning seven days.

week

Example 3 · Past tense or colour?

Choose: "The balloon ___ away." (blue / blew)

  1. The sentence needs an action in the past.
  2. Blue is a colour, not an action.
  3. Blew is the past tense of blow.

blew

Example 4 · Proofread for meaning

Fix the mistake: "I want to meat my cousin."

  1. Read it for meaning: you want to come together with a cousin.
  2. Meet is the verb for that.
  3. Meat is food, so replace it.

I want to meet my cousin.

Common mistakes

Choosing the spelling that looks right without checking the meaning.

Why this fails: Both spellings are real words, so they look fine. Always ask what the sentence means.

Relying on the spell checker.

Why this fails: Spell checkers flag non-words. Hear and here are both real words, so the tool often says nothing.

Mixing up one and won.

Why this fails: One is a number. Won is the past tense of win. They sound alike but cannot swap places.

Adding extra letters to a memory trick.

Why this fails: Tricks only work for the pair they are made for. Hear has ear in it; that trick does not help with sea and see.

Foundation

Foundation practice

Match each homophone to its meaning.

Meaning

1. Which word means 'to notice a sound with your ears'?

  1. here
  2. her
  3. hear
  4. heard
Meaning

2. Which word names a large area of salt water?

  1. sea
  2. see
  3. say
  4. seen
Meaning

3. Which spelling means 'not strong'?

  1. week
  2. wake
  3. weeks
  4. weak
Meaning

4. Which word means 'all of something'?

  1. hole
  2. whole
  3. wheel
  4. who
Meaning

5. Which word is the past tense of 'win'?

  1. one
  2. own
  3. won
  4. wan

Practice

Practice practice

Choose the right spelling for each sentence.

Fill in

6. "We stood on the beach and looked out at the ___."

  1. sea
  2. see
  3. seen
  4. si
Fill in

7. "Can you ___ the birds singing in the tree?"

  1. here
  2. heir
  3. hair
  4. hear
Fill in

8. "After the flu, Ana felt ___ for a few days."

  1. week
  2. weak
  3. weakly
  4. wick
Fill in

9. "I will ___ you at the front door at noon."

  1. meal
  2. meat
  3. meet
  4. mete
Fill in

10. "The wind ___ my hat right off my head."

  1. blew
  2. blue
  3. blow
  4. bleu
Fill in

11. "Our relay team ___ first place."

  1. one
  2. wan
  3. win
  4. won
Spot the error

12. Which sentence uses the correct word?

  1. I ate the hole pizza.
  2. I ate the whole pizza.
  3. I ate the whole pizza hole.
  4. I eight the whole pizza.

Think

Think practice

Find mistakes and explain your choices.

Think

13. Which sentence has TWO homophone mistakes?

  1. Please meet me hear on Friday.
  2. Please meat me here on Friday.
  3. Please meat me hear on Friday.
  4. Please meet me here on Friday.
Think

14. Why might a spell checker miss the mistake in "I can sea the lake"?

  1. Sea is a real word, so only the meaning is wrong
  2. Sea is not in the dictionary
  3. Spell checkers only check capital letters
  4. Spell checkers ignore the word lake
Think

15. Which memory trick helps with 'hear'?

  1. Hear rhymes with bear.
  2. Hear has a lot of e's.
  3. Hear ends with a silent r.
  4. Hear has ear in it.
Think

16. Write one sentence that uses both 'meet' and 'meat'.

Answer key

  1. 1. hear
    Hear has the word ear inside it. Here is a place word, as in here and there. Her and heard are different words.
  2. 2. sea
    Sea is the noun for the water. See is the verb for using your eyes, so it cannot name a thing. Say and seen are not about water.
  3. 3. weak
    Weak means not strong. Week means seven days. Weeks is the plural of week, and wake means to stop sleeping.
  4. 4. whole
    Whole starts with wh and means complete. Hole is an empty space. Wheel and who are unrelated words.
  5. 5. won
    Won is what you say after a win. One is the number 1. Own and wan are different words.
  6. 6. sea
    A beach sits beside a sea, a thing. See is a verb. The sentence needs a noun after the.
  7. 7. hear
    Singing is a sound, so you hear it. Here means in this place. Hair and heir are other homophones of the same sound.
  8. 8. weak
    The sentence describes how Ana felt, so it needs an adjective. Week is a unit of time.
  9. 9. meet
    Meet means to come together. Meat is food. A person cannot be 'meat' at a door in this sentence.
  10. 10. blew
    The wind acted in the past, so it needs the past tense blew. Blue is a colour and blow is present tense.
  11. 11. won
    The team finished in the past, so use won. One is a number, and win is present tense.
  12. 12. I ate the whole pizza.
    Whole means all of it. Hole is an empty space, so 'hole pizza' is the error. Eight is a number.
  13. 13. Please meat me hear on Friday.
    Meat should be meet and hear should be here. The first sentence has one mistake (hear), the second has one mistake (meat), and the third is correct.
  14. 14. Sea is a real word, so only the meaning is wrong
    Homophones are real words, so a spell checker does not flag them. You have to read for meaning: the sentence needs the verb see.
  15. 15. Hear has ear in it.
    You hear with your ear, and ear is inside the word. The other choices are not true of the word hear.
  16. 16. Example: We meet at the park to cook meat on the grill.
    Any sentence is fine if meet is used as a verb for coming together and meat as a food. Read it aloud to check that each spelling matches its meaning.

Related practice

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