Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. For many writers, homophones are the number one reason for misspelled words. It’s not necessarily that we don’t know how to spell a certain word, it’s that we fell into the auditory trap of using another word that sounds identical. When we write, we use memory and auditory skills and don’t necessarily pause to spell words in our heads. That’s why we might write their when we mean there, or tied for tide.

The thing is that we all make these mistakes. For example, how many times have you written something and only later seen a commonly misspelled word left in your writing? We’ve all had this experience, and yet these are easily avoided if we pause to review our writing.

Believe it or not, the number one homophone error that plagues many of us is made up of three letters: i, t, & s.

Sometimes the letters combine with an apostrophe (it’s for it is) and other times the letters are combined (its) without the apostrophe to indicate the possessive as in “The package made its delivery deadline.”

Here’s the key: we intuit that possessives are illustrated in writing through the apostrophe, as in “the senator’s platform” or “the Seahawks’ mascot.”

BUT pronouns do NOT get the apostrophe for possessives. Think about it, we have my, yours, ours, his, hers, theirs, etc. No apostrophe to indicate the possessive, right?

So, keep this “takeaway” in your handy file: it’s = it is, and its shows ownership

Want more fun with homophones?

Say these aloud: their, there, & they’re. As you say and see them, you’re aware that they mean different things. Their is the possessive. There is a place. And they’re is the contraction for they are. However, there’s a good chance that you made an error with these words at some point in your writing.

If you know you have difficulty with homophones, this list of common homophones might come in handy.

An Abridged List of Commonly Confused Homophones
A
air heir
aisle isle
ante anti
B
bare bear
be bee
break brake
by buy
C
capitol capital
cereal serial
cent scent
course coarse
complement compliment
D
dear deer
die dye
F
fir fur
flour flower
for four
H
hair hare
heel heal
hole whole
I
in inn
idol idle
M
maid made
mail male
meet meat
P
pair pear
peace piece
plain plane
poor pour
prey pray
principle principal
R
real reel
right write
root route
S
sun son
sight site
stationery stationary
steal steel
sole soul
T
their there
to too
W
waist waste
weigh way
wait weight
weak week
wear where