14 Quick Tips for Teaching Homophones

For students who have not had any exposure to homophones, they can be frustrating and
confusing.For students who have studied the sound alike word pairs, they can be a source of
linguistic challenge and entertainment. Either way, your ESL class will benefit from some
experience with these unique word buddies in English !he next time you talk about
homophones with your ESL class, keep the following tips in mind.
How to Teach Homophones
1
English is full of homophones. "iving your students a set which they can reference
will help ease their anxiety when it comes to different words that sound the same. !his
set of #$% sets of homophones that &lan 'ooper compiled will help your students
reduce their anxiety about homophones.
2
Encourage your students to keep their own list of homophone pairs in a
vocabulary notebook. From time to time, ask your students to write sentences that
use both members of the homophone pairs in the same sentence.
3
Sometimes what your students need most of all when it comes to homophones is
practice. "iving them fill in the blank sentences or a clo(e paragraph which test
homophones will help them understand which word goes with which meaning.
4
)ictating sentences that contain homophones is also beneficial to your students. *f you
collect their papers, you can see which of your students is having trouble with the
sound alike words.
5
*t is not difficult to find online quizzes that test homophone comprehension. "iving your
students a list of sites with these activities will give them resources they can use in their
free time to do further homophone study.
6
+ou can give your students practice matching homophones with the correct
definitions by creating your own crossword pu((les. Simply give the definition of the
word as the clue and have your students fill the answers in the chart.
7
,y writing pairs of homophones on index cards you can create your own set of "o
Fish cards. !each your students how to play the game if they do not already know how
then use your cards to make matching pairs.
8
+ou can use these same cards to play a game of homophone memory. Students lay
all the cards out face down on a flat surface and take turns trying to match pairs of
homophones to each other.
9
+ou can play a relay race to review homophones with your class for a more energetic
activity. )ivide your class into two groups and have one person from each group come
to the front board. -ead a sentence which uses one of a pair of homophones. !he first
student to correctly write that homophone on the board scores a point for his team. !he
first team to reach fifteen points wins.
10
Similarly, you can play homophone Pictionary by showing the two people at the
board a homonym pair on an index card and having them race to illustrate the words.
!he first team to guess the homophones correctly scores a point.
11
iddles can be another fun way to review homophones with your students. &sk your
class a riddle which has a homophone pair for its answer. For example, what do you
call a naked grizzly. A bare bear. 'hallenge your students to come up with some
homophone riddles of their own. +ou can display the riddles on a bulletin board and
challenge your class to come up with the answers during their free periods.
12
/ave your class list the letters of the alphabet from & to 0 on a sheet of paper. Starting
with each of the letters, see how many homophone pairs they can think of. &llow your
students to work in groups and see if anyone can make a complete set of 1%
homophone pairs.
13
)ivide your class into small groups and challenge the groups to write one sentence
with as many homophone pairs as possible. 2hat is the highest number of homophone
pairs that a group can put into a logical sentence.
14
/omophones are not a phenomenon unique to English. "roup your students by their
native languages to see if they can make a list of the homophones in their native
tongue.
/omophones can be fun as long as you take time in your class to talk about the unique word
pairs in English. !ry doing one homophone activity each day or spend a few days on a
homophone unit. 2ith some experience, exposure and entertainment, homophones will be fun
for your class rather than fearful