RIC-20235 Primary Grammar and Word Study Year 3 – Understanding and choosing words

Understanding and
choosing words
Homophones
Focus
Homophones
Definition
• Homophones are words that sound the same but
are spelt differently and have different meanings.
Example:
prey – an animal hunted for food by another
pray – to plead with (God or an object of worship),
to earnestly hope for something
Explanation
• The word ‘homophone’ means ‘same sound’.
Homonyms (‘same name’) include both homophones
and homographs (‘same writing’).
• Identifying different homophones and recognising
how to spell them helps students to communicate
more clearly in writing. Investigating homophones
also helps to develop and enrich students’
vocabulary. They learn to understand the meaning of
words and the way they work in print.
• Correct spelling is essential when using
homophones. No spelling rules exist for spelling
pairs or groups of homophones.
Worksheet information
• Read and discuss the definition with the students. If
desired, tell them the meaning of ‘homo’ and ‘phone’
to help them remember the difference between
homophones and homographs. Give, and ask for,
some suggestions of words which are homophones.
List these on the board.
• Before asking the students to read the text to
answer Question 1, remind them that the correct
words have been used, but with incorrect spelling
which gives each word a different meaning.
• There are 17 incorrect spellings (incorrect
homophones) to be circled in the text. Correct these
as a class before allowing students to write the
correct homophone above each. Then ask students
to reread the text when completed to see if it makes
more sense than the previous version.
• Students should be able to complete Questions 2
and 3 independently.
Ideas for further practice
• Think of some well-known sayings, songs, poems or
rhymes that contain homophones, such as ‘A sailor
went to sea, sea, sea to see what he could see, see,
see …’ or ‘How much wood would a woodchuck
chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?’
• Homophones make eye-catching names for shops.
Example:
‘Fish Plaice’ (fish and chip shop—’plaice’ is a
species of fish ), ‘Sew Fantastic’ (sewing and
material shop), ‘Home Suite Home’ and ‘Suite
Dreams’ (furniture shops), ‘Meat at the Corner’
(butcher shops).
Use a local phone book to locate others to share
with the class.
• Students write a fun sentence or rhyme which
helps them remember how to differentiate between
homophones; for example: beech/beach—‘A beech
is a tree but the beach is by the sea’ or ‘Wait here
while I check the weight of the elephant’.
Answers
1.–2. Tom
We finally made it to the airport despite Dad
stressing the whole time. We were a whole hour
early, so we had to wait around for ages being
bored. The plane that we caught seemed huge,
but by the time everyone was on board there
wasn’t a lot of room to move around in. We rode
in a taxi to the hotel and were really tired when
we got here. Tomorrow, we are going to visit the
berry farm and I hope we can have scones with
cream and jam again, like we had before. It’s past
my bedtime now, so I will write again soon.
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Your best friend
Warren
3. (a) prey (b) rode, road (c) bear
(d) flower (e) their, there (f) drawer
4. Teacher check
Primary grammar and word study 36
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