Words that sound the same but are spelled differently are called homophones. Homo means the same and phone means sound or voice When we join these it equals same sound. Here’s an example: fair and fare
No wonder the English language is so difficult for non-English speakers to learn. Both of these words have a ton of different meanings. A few are listed below.
Fair
adjective
- in accordance with the rules or standards; legitimate: the group has achieved fair and equal representation for all its members.
- just or appropriate in the circumstances: to be fair, this subject poses special problems.
- Baseball (of a batted ball) within the field of play marked by the first and third baselines.
- (of hair or complexion) light; blond: a pretty girl with long fair hair.
- considerable though not outstanding in size or amount: he did a fair bit of coaching.
- moderately good though not outstandingly so: he believes he has a fair chance of success.
- (of weather) fine and dry: a fair autumn day.
- (of the wind) favorable: they set sail with a fair wind.
adverb
- without cheating or trying to achieve unjust advantage: no one could say he played fair.
Fare
noun
- we can’t afford the air fare: ticket price, transport cost, price, cost, charge, fee, payment, toll, tariff, levy.
- when they eat at home they prefer simple fare: food, meals, board, sustenance, nourishment, nutriment, foodstuffs, refreshments, eatables, provisions, daily bread; cooking, cuisine; menu, diet
(From New Oxford American Dictionary)
Fun things to do
- Fill in the blanks on the short story which follows using either fair or fare based on the definitions above.
Willy and Millie went to play baseball on a ____ summer’s day. Willy had dark brown hair, but Millie’s hair was light and ____. When they arrived at the ball park, there was a lemonade stand. The ____ for a glass was fifty cents.
Millie had a dollar in her pocket and said she would buy two glasses. “That’s more than ____,” Willy said. “We never have lemonade at my house. My mom serves us water, a much simpler ____.”
As they started to play catch with their baseball, a big group of older kids came along and crowded them out of their space. “That’s not ____,” Millie protested.
“Sounds like you do a ____ bit of complaining,” one of the boys sarcastically remarked.
“Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you don’t have to play ____,” Willy said.
“Let’s go over there,” Millie suggested. “We can play catch over there and be rid of them. Then we can go to my house and have an ice cream cone. My mom will say we’ve earned it as part of our daily ____ for playing outside and getting exercise.”
- Click on Zeller Speller Smeller and go to Zeller Speller #2 for another homophone: horse and hoarse
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