List of Homonyms

Example Web Site and/or Technical Equipment Required

Computer(s), Internet access

When teaching spelling, students often struggle with the homonyms/homophones of English.

This site is NOT interactive, but can be used as a resource or to make spelling assignments from the list.

Print any necessary handouts.
If using any of the "More Ways" activities, be sure to check the sites in advance to be sure they are still available.
Create any sentence handouts, if needed.

Review the list.
Select 'Go to All About Homonyms' and scroll to the section on Nomenclature to explain the difference between homonyms and homophones.
Scroll down to a poem: 'An Ode to the Spelling Chequer' to introduce humor to the challenge of spelling/using homonyms.
Print out the list, parts of the list, or assign students to go to the list every day and practice for a certain amount of time on their own.

Warning: the list is 63 pages long, so use the Print feature on your browser to choose which pages to print.

Introduce homonyms daily, test weekly.
For a bit of online interactivity and practice, use the Activities for ESL Students [www] Web site under their Self Study Homonym Quizzes [www]. Use the quizzes to guide which homonyms to teach, then have students do the quizzes after instruction.
Another type of activity would be to create sentences that use two or more homonyms and have students underline the homonyms. RHL School - English Basics [www] has an activity already created and you can print it out. Here is another [www], and another[www].
Use the Horrid Homonyms Class Activity document above to do a whole class activity. When you divide students into teams, put students of varying levels on each team.