“Unlock the Secrets of Language: Are You Confusing Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs?”
How To Remember Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs
You can remember the difference (what difference there is) between homophones, homonyms, and homographs by breaking each word down and recalling the meaning of its root suffix and prefix. Also, try remembering each term separately to start, and don’t worry about which homophones are homonyms and which homonyms are homographs.
The root homo means “the same.” For all of these words something is the same — the spelling or the pronunciation.
- Homophones sound alike. Homo means “the same” and phone means “sound.” They sound the same. They may be spelled alike (or not) but they must sound alike.
- Homonyms are spelled alike. Homo means “the same” and nym means “name.” Homonym means “same name.” Like the words “same” and “name” they also sound alike.
- Homographs look alike (same spelling). Like graphs, they are visual. With the prefix homo, they look the same.
Easy enough? Sure it is!
