

MEMBER LOGIN START NOW

COURSE FOR SPEAKERS OF  ABOUT 

FREE STARTER COURSE  PRICING  CONTACT 

ENGLISH HOMOPHONES
LIST & EXAMPLES - FOR ESL
SPEAKERS

Message Us
 By Georgie Harding – Founder & Head Speech Pathologist
THE ULTIMATE HOMOPHONES LIST –
PRACTICE EXERCISES

RECORD & COMPARE YOUR PRONUNCIATION

A wise person once said ‘English spelling and pronunciation is
CRAZY’. They were right! English homophones highlight how
variable English spelling and pronunciation is. These variations make
pronunciation di cult for ESL speakers.
What is a homophone? A homophone is a word that has the same pronunciation as
another word but has di erent spelling and meaning. For example, ‘one’ and ‘won’ are
pronounced the same (/wʌn/ in the IPA) but the have di erent spelling and di erent
meanings.

Did you know that ‘muscles’ and ‘mussels’ are pronounced exactly the same? And ‘crews’
and ‘cruise’? How can words that look so di erent be pronounced the same way? These are
some of the many homophones in English that trap ESL speakers, and some of the many
homophones that you will correct here today.

ENGLISH HOMOPHONE EXERCISES

Test your pronunciation with this homophones practice page. Hear
homophones and practice them out loud to check your pronunciation.
Today you’ll correct over 100 homophone examples and download
your English homophone pdf.
To show how to pronounce homophones we use the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA). The IPA are the symbols you see after the words in the brackets – like this/wʌn/.
These IPA symbols tell us exactly which sounds to pronounce in each word. Don’t
worry if you don’t know all the IPA symbols.
Here is what you need to know about the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA).

Remember in the IPA the two dots /:/ means the vowel is long, remember that each IPA
symbol represents a sound and this dash /’/ means the next syllable is stressed.
 ENGLISH HOMOPHONE EXAMPLES WITH
SHORT VOWELS
Hear homophone word pairs and practice these English homophones sentences out loud
with the recording tool. Listen and then record and compare your own pronunciation of
each English homophone examples with the native speaker.

While practicing these English homophones exercises, pay attention to the

word stress, rhythm and emphasis

berry – bury /ˈbe.ri/ I’ll bury
the berry.
Listen to the Native Speaker
one – won /wʌn/
I won one. E 00:00
Listen to the Native Speaker

E 00:00

 Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation!

Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation! 00:00

 Record
00:00
 Record

knot – not /nɒt/ billed – build /bɪld/

You build and I’ll review what we’ve been
It’s not in a knot.
billed.
Listen to the Native Speaker
 Listen to the Native Speaker – sell /sel/ sent – scent – cent

E 00:00 E
00:00

  JOIN
OUR

Record Your Speech Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation!

Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00 00:00
 Record
 Record

FREE 5 DAY ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

COURSE

Start Improving Today With Our 5 Day Free English

Pronunciation Video Course

English Homophones List – More Homophones examples

/sent/ ex – ecks / eks/

with short vowels with IPA check – cheque /tʃek/ weather-
whether /ˈwe.ðə/ guessed-guest /ɡest/ /æ/
/e/ ad – add /æd/
berry – bury /ˈbe.ri/ band – banned /bænd/ wrap –
bread – bred /bred/ rap /ræp/ tax – tacks
lead (n) – led /led/ cell /tæks/ packed pact /pækt/
carat – carrot /ˈkæ.rət/
/ʊ/ billed – build /bɪld/ missed –
would – wood /wʊd/ mist /mɪst/ which –
e ect–a ect /əˈfekt/ witch /wɪtʃ/ addition–edition /ə
ˈdɪ.ʃən/
/ʌ/ illicit – elicit /ɪˈlɪ.sɪt/
one – won /wʌn/ son –
sun /sʌn/ none – nun
/nʌn/ some – sum /sʌm/
muscles-mussels /ˈmʌ.səlz/

/ɒ/
knot – not /nɒt/ what –
watt /wɒt/ pro t – prophet
/ˈprɒ.fɪt/ /ɪ/

him-
hymn /hɪm/

ENGLISH HOMOPHONE EXAMPLES WITH LONG

VOWELS

The homophones practice below are words that are traps for ESL speakers. Many non-
native English speakers don’t realise that these words are homophones.

Time for your English Homphone practice out loud to check these homophones pairs and
English homophones sentences.

Remember that each homophone pair in this section has a LONG vowel sound. So make
sure you pronounce a long /u:/ vowel in crews and cruise, a long /i:/ vowel in sweet,
suite, genes and jeans and a long ‘or’ vowel in pause and paws.

Listen to the recording and then record your own speech to check your pronunciation of the
English homophones examples – check the two homophones sounds the same.

crews – cruise /kru:z/ suite – sweet /swiːt/

The crews enjoyed the cruise. Each suite has sweets.

Listen to the Native Speaker Listen to the Native Speaker

E 00:00 E 00:00
 genes – jeans /dʒiːnz/
I have my mother’s genes and a new pair of jeans
Listen to the Native Speaker

 E

Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00
 Record
 pause – paws /pɔːz/
The vet paused to check the cat’s
paws.


Listen to the Native Speaker

E 00:00

with long vowels with IPA.

Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation!

/i:/
be – bee /bi ː/ key – quay

00:00 /kiː/ sea – see

seize /siːz/ seam – seem
/siː/ seas– sees –
/siːm/ beat
– beet /biːt/ bean –
 Record
been /biːn/ feet – feat / :t/
meat – meet /miːt/ creak – creek
/kriːk/ weak – week /wiːk/ peak –
peek /pi:k/ read – reed /riːd/

 

Record Your Speech Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation! Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00 00:00
 Record  Record

English Homophones List – More Homophone examples

steal – steel /stiːl/ /sɔːs/ horse – hoarse /hɔːs/
heal – heel /hi:l/ pause – paws /p ɔːz/
scene – seen /siːn/ /ɔː/ morning-mourning /ˈmɔː.nɪŋ/ teas –

awe – oar – or tease /tiːz/ piece – peace

/ɔː/ your – you’re /piːs/ ceiling -sealing /ˈsiː.lɪŋ/ sweet

/jɔː/ for – four – suite /swiːt/ genes –

/fɔː/ saw – sore – soar jeans /dʒiːnz/ cereal –

/sɔː/ paw – pour – poor serial /ˈsi:.ri.jəl/

/pɔː/
shore – sure /u:/
to – too – two /tuː/ you – U – ewe
/ʃɔː/ raw – roar
/juː/ cue – queue /kju:/ threw – through
/rɔː/ bored – board
/θruː/ knew – new /nju ː/ ew – u
/bɔːd/ sort – sought
/ uː/
/sɔːt/ caught – court
/kɔːt/ hall – haul blew – blue /bluː/ chews – choose

ENGLISH HOMOPHONE EXAMPLES WITH

/ /tʃuːz/
crews –
DIPHTHONG VOWELS
h
cruise
ɔ
ːMany /kruːz/
ESL speakers have di culty with the words below because they have
ldouble root –
vowels! Make sure you make two vowel sounds -/oʊ/ in rose,
/ route
rows, thrown and throne, /eɪ/ in way, weigh, whey and /aɪ/ in sight and (UK
site. Aus)

It often really helps learners to understand these are homophones. Many /ruːt/
students say to me ‘I’ve been trying to say them di erently all this time’ moose–
because they just didn’t realise they were homophones. mousse
/muːs/ /
Listen to each of these homophone pairs and get your important English
ɜː/
homophone practice for each. This practice is really important. Some
people don’t like listening to the sound of your own voice, but it is really heard –
important to actively complete these English homophone exercises by herd
/hɜːd/
recording your own speech.
When you listen to the homophones sentences, remember to pay attention
/a:/
to the pitch of the voice, the up and down. This is the way we mark the
stressed syllables in each sentence.

sauce – source
passed –
past /pɑːst/
aren’t–aunt (UK
Aus) /ɑːnt/ draft –
draught /dra:ft/
 rose – rows /roʊz/ thrown – throne /θroʊn/
Find a rose in the It was thrown over the throne.

rows. Listen to the Native Speaker

Listen to the Native Speaker

E 00:00



Record Your Speech

Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation!

Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00
00:00
 Record

 Record

way – weigh – whey /weɪ/ E 00:00

Which way do we weight the whey?
Listen to the Native Speaker

E
sight – site /saɪt/

There was a strange sight on the site.

Listen to the Native Speaker
  

Record Your Speech Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation! Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00 00:00
 Record  Record

English Homophones List – More Homophone examples with

diphthong vowels with IPA
See a homophone word list below of homophones with double /
diphthong vowels. /raɪt/ sight – site /saɪt/ tide – tied
/taɪd/ side – sighed /saɪd/ mind –

/eɪ/ mined /maɪnd/ nd – ned /faɪnd/

ate – eight /eɪt/ way – weigh – whey /weɪ/ pray – I’ll – aisle – isle /aɪl/ idle – idol

prey /preɪ/ wait – weight /weɪt/ waist – waste /weɪst/ /ˈaɪ.dəl/ higher – hire /ˈhaɪ.jə/

great – grate /greɪt/ made – maid /meɪd/ break – raise – rays /reɪz/ faint –

brake /breɪk/ steak – stake /steɪk/ rain – reign /reɪn/ feint /feɪnt/ sail – sale /seɪl/

plain – plane /pleɪn/ vein – vain – vane /veɪn/ pain – mail – male /meɪl/ tail – tale

pane /peɪn/ base – bass /beɪs/ phase – faze /feɪz/ /teɪl/ bail – bale /beɪl/ wail –
whale /weɪl/
/aɪ/ die – dye /daɪ/ high – hi /haɪ/
buy – by – bye /baɪ/ bite – byte
/oʊ/ know – no /noʊ/ toe – tow /toʊ/ so – sow (verb)
– bight /baɪt/ night –
knight /naɪt/ right – write – sew /soʊ/ soul – sole /soʊl/ rose – rows
/roʊz/ knows – nose /noʊz/ roll – role /roʊl/ whole – there – they’re – their /ðeə/ where –

hole /hoʊl/ holy – wholly – holy /ˈhoʊ.li/ loan – lone we’re – wear /weə/ mare –
mayor /meə/
/loʊn/ thrown – throne /θroʊn/ road – rode /roʊd/
wrote – rote /roʊt/ grown – groan /groʊn/
/ɪə/ hear – here /hɪə/ tear
/aʊ/ bow (v) – bough /baʊ/ foul – fowl /faʊl/ (n) – tier /tɪə/ dear – deer
allowed – aloud /əˈlaʊd/ ower – our /ˈ aʊ.wə/ /eə/ /dɪə/
air – heir /eə/ pair – pear /peər/
hair – hare /heə/ fair – fare /feə/ /ɔɪ/ boy – buoy /bɔɪ/
stair – stare /steə/ bare -bear /beə/

ENGLISH HOMOPHONE EXAMPLES THAT

ARE LONGER WORDS
Ok – we’re done with the easy peezey one syllable words. Now it’s time for multi-
syllable English homophones practice!

Many non-native English speakers don’t realise that these words are homophones
and it really improves their pronunciation and con dence when they see that words
like gorrilla – guerilla and kernal – colonel and career – Korea are prononced
exactly the same way.

While some of these homophones are not words we use all the time, they are still
quite common and many of my students say ‘Oh wow – all these years I have
avoided using the word ‘colonel’ because I wan’t sure how to pronounce it’ and
many say they didn’t understand that word when listening to others.

In these homophones, you need to pay attention to word stress and putting the
emphasis on the right syllable in words.

Many ESL speakers have di culty with word stress. Improve your word stress with
these word stress exercises.

As you hear each English homophones exercise below, listen carefully to where I
place the word stress. Pay attention to the up and down – or the ‘pitch’ of my
voice. Focus on word stress in your own speech as you practice and record your
pronunciation.

kernal – colonel ower – our

/ˈkɜː.nəl/ /ˈ aʊ.wə/
 Listen to the Native Speaker Listen to the Native Speaker

E 00:00 E 00:00

 

Record Your Speech Record Your Speech

Focus on your pronunciation! Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00 00:00
 Record  Record

gorrilla – guerilla cereal – serial

/ɡəˈrɪ.lə/

ɡ
/ˈsɪ.ri.jəl/
Listen to the Native Speaker
Listen to the Native Speaker
E 00:00

E 00:00

 
Record Your Speech
Record Your Speech
Focus on your pronunciation!
Focus on your pronunciation!

00:00 00:00
 Record
 Record

English Homophones List – Longer word homophone examples with

IPA

Double check your word stress in each of the homophone examples below.

Make sure you are getting the stress on the right syllable while you complete this
English homophone practice. Remember that the /ˈ/ in the IPA tells you that the
word stress is on the next syllable.

career – Korea /kəˈrɪ.jə/

assistance – assistants /əˈsɪs.tənts/
attendance – attendants /əˈten.dənts/
patients – patience /ˈpeɪ.ʃəns/
colonel – kernel /ˈkɜː.nəl/
 council – counsel /ˈkaʊnt.səl/
councillor counsellor /ˈkaʊnt.sə.lə/
gorilla – guerrilla /gəˈrɪ.lə/
principle – principal /ˈpeɪ.ʃəns/
marshal – martial /ˈmɑː.ʃəl/

Downloading the full homophone list below for English homophone practice will
help you correct many words that are commonly mispronounced by ESL speakers.

In my experience, the most commonly mispronouned English homophones are

‘career’ and ‘Korea’. Many ESL speakers mispronounce the word ‘career’. They
put the word stress on the rst syllable. The word stress should be on the 2nd
syllable – exactly the same as in the word ‘Korea’.

Don’t confuse these with ‘courier’ – which is not a homophone. Courier is

pronounced /ˈkʊ.ri.ər/.

DOWNLOAD ENGLISH HOMOPHONES PDF

Would you like a English Homophones Word List pdf download? Here is the full
English homphones list of over 100 English homophones. This list includes the
most commonly mispronounced English homophones with the International
Phonetic Alphabet IPA in a printable .pdf that you can download.

This is the one of the most comprehensive English homphones lists available and
it includes the IPA International Phonetic Alphabet for each homophone example.
This homophones list includes all the homophones mentioned on this page and is
split into sections for short vowels, long vowels, dipthong vowels and longer
words.

This English homophones printable list is a great tool for ESL speakers.

You should remember to pay attention to vowels and word stress as you go
through the list.

For homophone practice with long vowels (you’ll see /:/ in the IPA), you should
check you are making a long vowel and not a short vowel.

For homophones practice that have diphthong vowels, make sure you get two
vowels in each diphthong vowel.
And importantly, for the homophones practice for multi-syllable words, pay
attention to making good word stress in each homophone pair.

Click the button below to download the English homophones pdf with IPA
symbols. This is your full English homophones printable list for revising and
improving homophones for clearer spoken English.

Download English Homophones List pdf For ESL Speaker s

HOMOPHONES AND YOUR ENGLISH

SPEAKING CONFIDENCE

When people lack con dence with their spoken English it can really hold them
back. It’s tiring and exhausting!

Revising areas such as how to pronounce English homophones can really help.
The English pronunciation homophones exercises on this page can help people
improve their speaking con dence through improved pronunciation skills.

For many ESL students, covering homophones is an eye opener. We say

something is an ‘eye-opener’ when it’s surprising. Many of them say to me ‘All
these years and I’ve been trying to say those two words di erently, and now I
know that they are actually pronounced the same way!’

For example, many of my overseas students from non-English speaking

backgrounds mispronounce words like ‘pause’ – they use the incorrect vowel
sounds. It helps so much when they understand that ‘pause’ is exactly the same as
‘paws’.
It gives people con dence to know that they are pronouncing homophones
correctly.

Correcting your pronunciation of homophones with this English homphones list

can make your English clearer and build your speaking con dence. You can be con
dent that you are pronouncing these words clearly and correctly.

Here are answers to questions we’re often asked about English

homophones examples:
How to pronounce the word ‘homophone’?

The word ‘homophone’ is pronounced as /ˈhɒ.mə.foʊn/. The word stress is on the

rst syllable, the vowel in the 2nd syllable is the weak vowel schwa and the last
vowel is the diphthong vowel /oʊ/.

Why is English pronunciation and spelling more di cult than other

languages?

Spelling and pronunciation is more di cult in English than many other languages
because English is not a phonetic language. This means that the way a word is
spelled does not tell us exactly how to pronounce it. This makes English
pronunciation a challenging area for many learners of English. The spelling and
pronunciation are very variable. Words can look very di erent (eg suite and
sweet) and be pronounced the same way! And similarly, words that look similar
can be pronounced quite di erently, for example, ‘cost’ and ‘post’.

Why are there so many homophones in English?

English has more homophones than many other languages. This is mainly because
over many, many year English has borrowed many words from other languages.
Another reason is that the pronunciation of English words has changed quite a lot
over time, while its spelling has changed very little. What is the di erence between
a homophone and a homograph?

Like many ESL speakers, you may have heard of homophones and
homographs. Are you wondering what’s the di erence between a
homophone and a homograph? Here is a clear explanation with some
examples.

A homophone is a word that has the same pronunciation as another word but is
spelled di erently and has a di erent meaning. For example ‘toe’ and ‘tow’,
‘rows’ and ‘rose’, ‘there’ and ‘their’ and they’re’.
 A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as another word but has a di
erent meaning. Homographs may be pronouced the same way or di erently.

For example, homographs that are pronounced di erently are: the verb ‘to wind’ and
the noun ‘the wind’. The ‘i’ letter is pronounced di erently in these two words.
Homographs that are pronounced the same way are: the verb ‘to contact’ and the
noun ‘a contact’. ‘Contact’ is pronounced the same way for both.

Improve your pronunciation of homographs and homophones in sentences and

conversations with a full Speech Active Course.

Why is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) helpful for learning

homophones?

The IPA is set of symbols where each symbol represents a speech sound or tells us
where the word stress is. The IPA for English has 44 symbols. The dash /ˈ/
indicates that the next syllable is stressed.

The IPA tells us the correct pronunciation of a word so it is very helpful when
learning homophones. Look at homophones: crews & cruise – they look very di
erent but if we look at the IPA – /kruːz/ – it tells us that the pronunciation is
exactly the same for these homophones.

Here is another example of how the IPA looks for the words ‘moose’ and
‘mousse’. See how this homograph looks in the IPA in the dictionary below.

Do I need to learn all the IPA symbols?

No, I suggest you just learn the IPA symbols for the sounds that you have di culty
with. Try and identify which sounds are di cult for you and learn the IPA symbols
for them. Also you remember that the two dots /:/ are a long vowel, when you see
two vowel symbols it means it’s a double or diphthong, when you see this dash /’/
it means the next syllable is stressed.

If you want to revise the IPA symbols for all the sounds in English, and also revise
the pronunciation of all English vowels and consonants, you can do it here:

English Vowel Sounds with IPA Symbols.

English Consonant Sounds with IPA Symbols.

How can I nd out the IPA symbols in words?

The best way to look up the IPA for an English word is using a good online
dictionary. So next time you’re looking up how to pronounce a homophone I
recommend the Cambridge Online Dictionary, it’s very reliable and easy to use.
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) in the Cambridge online dictionary is
excellent, you can see each IPA symbol and the word stress marked in. You can
also click to hear the word pronounced in British and
American style English.

Thank you for visiting our homophones practice page. I hope it has helped you
correct the English homophones that you use regularly.

Here are some other helpful English Pronunciation resources that might help you:

English Word Stress Exercises: videos, audio and voice recorder exercises to help
you improve your word stress and emphasis in English.

Pronounce words like ‘comfortable’ & ‘restaurant’ like a native speaker.

Pronouncing words with omitted syllables.

Improve English Schwa Sound.

Improve Consonant Clusters. Speakers of Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese,

Cantonese and other south east Asian languages will nd this page
helpful.

Checklist For Choosing Accent Reduction Training.

Would you like more help with your English Pronunciation?

Contact us to nd out more about our English Pronunciation Courses.
Our training is tailored speci cally for speakers of your language
background. See more about our course for speakers of your rst
language here – Speech Active Course List
See our course tour video below.

Keep up the great work on improving your spoken English.

Please contact us at Speech Active to talk more about how we can help you
improve : )

Remember, a little bit here and there every day helps.

All the best

Georgie Harding
ENGLISH HOMOPHONES LIST & EXAMPLES – PRACTICE & RECORD
by Georgie

Georgie Harding has assisted thousands of people from all over the world with
improving their clarity and spoken English skills. A Speech Pathology degree
(BAppSc(SpPath) and CELTA quali cations and over 15 years of experience
providing 1:1, group and online training make Georgie a leader in her eld.

Georgie is the creator the world’s leading English Pronunciation online courses
that are tailored to the language background of the student and presents regularly
at Universities.
If you’ve ever met Georgie or completed her award winning courses you’ll know
how passionate she is about helping people move forward with better spoken
English and more con dence.

Email: georgie@speechactive.com
Linkedin: Georgie Harding
Facebook: Speech Active
Twitter: Speech Active

First Name

Email Address

YOUR FIRST LANGUAGE

SIGN UP

☑By signing up you are agreeing to receive further information and tips from
Speech Active.

JOIN OUR FREE PRONUNCIATION STARTER

COURSE
5 EMAILS - START TODAY
Learn about challenging areas for speakers of your rst language

Record a clear and professional voicemail greeting

 Improve your word stress, emphasis & rhythm in English

Improve some key vowel sounds that are important for clear English

Correct many commonly mispronounced words

Tips on improving pronunciation and uency in your day to day life And lots

more...

YOUR STEP-BY-STEP PATH TO CLEAR

AND CONFIDENT ENGLISH

"
START NOW

Whether your goal is to speak English more clearly or to sound more like a native
English speaker, you can start improving today with Speech Active.

Speech Active is the leading provider of tailored English Pronunciation & Fluency
courses; helping speakers from non-English speaking backgrounds speak clear and
con dent English.
IMPROVE RESEARCH EXPLORE

$ START NOW $ FAQS $ PRICING

$ COURSE LIST $ TOUR VIDEO $ FEATURES

$ FREE STARTER $ OUR STUDENTS $ TIPS & BLOG

$ ASSESSMENTS $ REVIEWS $ CONTACT

$ 1:1 TRAINING

© 2022 SPEECH ACTIVE | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.