6 Minute Vocabulary: Homophones

Jan 132015

What is the connection between a world-famous classical composer – and the thing you use to open a door?
The answer is that they are both pronounced in the same way! In British English, Handel, the German composer who lived in London in the 1700s, and door handle are pronounced in exactly the same way.
6 Minute Vocabulary is all about these words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. Homophones are a tricky feature of English that can be hard to learn.

_______Show Transcript______

Neil
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I’m Neil.

Sophie
And I’m Sophie. Hi, Neil, I’ve got a question for you.

Neil
OK…

Sophie
What’s black and white and read all over?

Neil
What’s black and white, and red all over? I don’t know that. Go on, tell me…

Sophie
A newspaper.

Neil
Oh – I see… so it wasn’t the colour red, but read [/red/] as in the past form of read [/ri:d/]. White paper, black writing and the ‘read all over’ bit means people read it. Very good, Sophie. You should go into comedy.

Sophie
I’m not too sure about that, Neil. Sorry for the bad joke everyone, but words that sound the same but have different meanings is actually our topic for today’s show.

Neil
That’s right – homophones, words that sound the same but have different spellings and different meanings… Let’s listen to Mark and Jane.

Sophie
Mark’s just had an accident in the kitchen.

Neil
And here’s a question for you to think about while you listen: what has Mark got on his jeans?

INSERT

Jane
What’s wrong, Mark? You look really angry.

Mark
What’s wrong, Jane?! Can’t you see? I’ve got flour all over my jeans.

Jane
You’ve got a flower on your jeans? I didn’t know you liked pretty things…

Mark
Not a flower, Jane. Flour! Look.

Jane
Ahh, Mark! You’re making me a birthday cake. Ahh…

Neil
So, that’s Mark and Jane.

Sophie
And we asked you what Mark had got on his jeans.

Neil
And of course, the answer was flour. The kind of flour you use to make bread and cakes. And flour is spelt f-l-o-u-r.

Sophie
Jane thought it was a different kind of flower, f-l-o-w-e-r, the brightly coloured and sweet-smelling plant you might have in your garden.

Neil
That’s right, flour, f-l-o-u-r, and flower, f-l-o-w-e-r, are homophones – words that sound the same, but have different spellings and different meanings. Now, homophones can be difficult to learn, and the reason is because they sound exactly the same.

Sophie
That’s right. And here are some more examples…

Neil
Mail, m-a-i-l, meaning letters and parcels you send in the post, and male, m-a-l-e, the opposite of female.

Sophie
And here’s another one: right, r-i-g-h-t, the opposite of left, and write, w-r-i-t-e, like write a letter.

Neil
Here’s one: peace, p-e-a-c-e, when it’s quiet and calm, and piece, p-i-e-c-e, a part of something – a piece of cake!

Sophie
And one more: tail, t-a-i-l, the long, narrow part that sticks out of the back of an animal’s body and tale, t-a-l-e, a kind of story. What’s your favourite fairy tale, Neil?

Neil
Well, I really like The Emperor’s New Clothes. I think it’s really relevant still today. Even for grown-ups.

Sophie
It’s a great story.

IDENT
You’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil
And we’re talking about homophones.

Sophie
That’s words which are spelt differently and have different meanings, but sound the same.

Neil
And now it’s time for a quiz. I’m going to read a sentence with one of the homophones from today’s show. Try to spell the word correctly as you listen and Sophie will tell you the answers afterwards.

Sophie
Good luck!

Neil
Are you ready? Number one. Ben gave his girlfriend a flower for Valentine’s Day. Now how do you spell flower there?

Sophie
Unless she wanted to bake bread, he gave her a flower, f-l-o-w-e-r.

Neil
Correct. Well done if you got that one right. Number two. The dog is wagging its tail. How do you spell tail?

Sophie
This is part of an animal’s body, so it’s t-a-i-l.

Neil
And well done if you got that one at home. Finally: The postman put the letters on the table on the right. How do you spell right?

Sophie
The table’s on the right, not on the left, so it’s r-i-g-h-t.

Neil
Well done to everyone at home who got those right.

Sophie
And that almost brings us to the end of the programme. But before we go, here’s today’s top tip for learning vocabulary. Homophones are difficult to spell correctly when you hear them because they sound the same. So, if you think a word might be a homophone, read or listen to the words around it very carefully. That will help you get a better idea what word it is and how to spell it.

Neil
There’s more about homophones at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Both
Bye!

Session Vocabulary

red
the colour. ‘I bought a red dress to wear at the party.’

read
the past of read. ‘I read that book last year.’

flour
the main ingredient in bread. ‘I need half a kilo of flour for this recipe’.

flower
the brightly coloured and sweet-smelling part of a plant. ‘My favourite flowers are roses.’

mail
letters and parcels you send in the post. ‘I haven’t opened my mail yet.’

male
the opposite of female. ‘This hospital has separate male and female wards.’

right
the opposite of left. ‘Most people are right-handed.’

write
write a letter. ‘I write to my sister in America every week.’

peace
quiet and calm. ‘The war continued for several months while the peace agreement was finalised.’