Mastering Heterographs, Heterophones, and Homophones

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Let's get started by clearing up a few terms.

The root word, hetero, means different. Phone means sound.

So words that are heterophones are literally words that sound different.

Not just any words though. Heterophones sound different when spoken AND mean different things, even though they are spelled the same.

Some examples of heterophones include:

Heterophones are words that are spelled the same but mean different things and sound differently when spoken.

• Remember what hetero means?

So hetero means different.

• What about graph?

Graph means look. So heterographs are literally words that look different.

Not just any words though. Heterographs look different when written and mean different things, but they sound the same.

Some examples include:

Heterographs are words that sound the same, but they look different when written and mean different things.

The root word, homo, means same.

• Remember what phone means?

So homophones are literally words that look the same and sound the same.

Not just any words though. Homophones look the same when written, sound the same when spoken, but mean different things.

Some examples include:

Homophones are words that sound the same when they are spoken, look the same when they are written, but mean very different things.

As you can see, understanding when to use certain words can make a big difference.

To further understand these terms and when to use them, watch Homonyms from D!NG:

Head over to the Got It? section to practice your new understanding of heterophones, heterographs, and homophones.