Advanced English Homophones – different words that sound the same!

You made it, I made it.

We are at the advanced level of homophones.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and like I said, this is level three of my homophones series, the

advanced stage.

So, if you don't know why homophones are important to know, let me just repeat what I said at

the end of the intermediate video, which is: They're important so that you know the spelling

of words, you can understand context, you can understand what people are saying when

they use a word that maybe has another word that sounds exactly the same but the pronunciation

is also the same but the meaning is different.

So, as a recap, homophones once more are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently

and have a different meaning.

So, it's self-explanatory why they're important to know, but I mention it to you guys anyway.

So let's not waste any time and let's level up, guys.

"Air", "heir".

I think you know what "air" is... Right?

So, a technical definition, a mix of nitrogen, oxygen, and other small amounts of gases,

or a soft breeze, or in the Phil Collins song: "I can feel it calling in the air tonight",

something like that.

It's a terrible, terrible voice.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Phil. Very sorry, Phil.

Or Mr. Collins, I'll call you Mr. Collins.

"Heir", now "heir", "h-e-i-r", this is a noun and this is a person who has the legal right

to someone's property after they pass away.

Now, usually when we think about heirs, we think about it in, like, the Middle Ages where,

you know, a prince is the heir to the throne of a king.

Once the king dies, the heir steps up and he becomes the king.

So, example from Lord of the Rings: "Aragorn is Isildur's heir", in The Lord of the Rings.

Spoiler alert if you haven't seen that movie or read those books.

So, Aragorn is Isildur's heir.

Isildur defeated, you know, the evil wizard, Sauron, and you've seen the movie, you know.

Okay: "alter", "altar".

"A-l-t-e-r", this means to modify or change something, so this is a verb.

For example: "Do you wish to alter your plans?

Do you want to change anything or modify anything?"

And "altar", the noun "a-l-t-a-r", this is a table that is used for religious rituals.

So, any, you know...

Many religions use altars.

If you're thinking about Christian faiths, if you go to a Christian church, they will

have a table in the front of the church, this is called an altar.

So: "The priest is behind the altar."

In the past, altars were used for other things, like animal sacrifices, and in some cases

human sacrifices, like that Indiana Jones scene.

Right?

What's that word that they u-...?

I don't remember.

Anyway.

"Bald" and "bawled".

So, you probably know "bald", "b-a-l-d", an adjective which means without hair, having

no hair.

So, who's a famous bald person that I can think of?

Well, if you've seen the movie Doctor Strange, Tilda Swinton's character is bald.

She doesn't have any hair.

Right?

And "bawled", "b-a-w-l-e-d", so this is the past of the verb "bawl", "b-a-w-l" and in

the past form it means cried loudly or wailed.

So, let me...

Let me look at some examples so you understand what I mean.

So, first: "My dad bawled when he discovered his first bald spot."

Okay?

So, you know, balding is a process usually.

When you find your first bald spot, like it's here usually, and you're like: "Oh no, I'm

losing my hair."

Although, bald is beautiful, too, so don't worry, guys.

Just embrace it.

It's okay.

"My dad bawled"-like he cried strongly and loudly-"when he discovered his first bald

spot".

Or: "I bawled at the end of that movie."

So, if you watch an emotional movie, or like the...

You know, the big scene in The Lion King, for example, when Simba's father dies and

when you were a kid, maybe you bawled because you were not emotionally prepared for that

level of disappointment.

Damn you, Disney.

Damn you.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Just that movie gets to me.

"Bread" and "bred".

So, you guys know what "bread" is, you eat it, it's delicious, make sandwiches, toast

with it.

And then "bred", this is the past verb of "breed".

Now, "to breed" can mean to procreate or raise.

So, on a farm, for example, farmers can breed certain animals.

So: "They bred cattle"-which basically means cows-"on their farm".

You can also use this for a person in the expression of: "I was born and bred in", whatever

city or town you grew up in.

And if this place made you who you are, you can say: "I was born and bred in Rio", "I

was born and bred in Bogota", "I was born and bred in Osaka", wherever, you were...

You know, you became you.

Next: "cent", "sent", "scent".

A "cent" is just a penny, basically one cent.

Many places don't have cents anymore, including Canada.

In the States I think they phased it out I'm pretty sure.

Is that right?

I don't remember.

Anyway, "sent" is the past of "send", and tell me in the comments because I'm not going

to look it up right now.

So, "sent" is the past of "send".

And then finally: "scent", "s-c-e-n-t", this just means smell.

So, this is a noun, like the scent of flowers, the scent of peaches, the scent of roses,

the smell.

So, for example: "Calvin Klein sent me a catalogue of their new scents", their new smells basically,

Obsession, and all that stuff.

Number six: "horse", this is my depiction of a horse and "hoarse", which is an adjective.

This refers to a harsh voice or the voice you have if you've been screaming for a long time.

So if you go to a concert, for example, and you're singing, and you're going wild and

crazy, and you're yelling and you're saying: "Yeah!" at the end of the concert your voice

probably sounds like this.

Your voice sounds hoarse. Okay?

So: "My voice was hoarse after the concert."

I can think of many concerts that I've been to that had this effect, so Metallica was

definitely one of them, Radiohead was definitely another one of them, and Pearl Jam, I went

pretty crazy at that show, too.

So, lots of concerts there.

And number seven: "retch" and "wretch".

The first one is disgusting, so "to retch" means to vomit or to try to vomit.

So if you're retching, please close your eyes if vomiting makes you sick.

But if you're going... Right? You're retching. Okay? To retch.

And "wretch" with a "w", this is a noun which refers to a despicable or incredibly unhappy

individual or person.

So, here's the first retch: "The smell of the food made me retch."

Like, if you're, you know, you smell food and it's new and weird to you and you hate

the smell, or maybe it's bad and you open the fridge and there's something that's been

in there, like cheese, for like, I don't know, five months. Okay?

It makes you retch.

And finally: "He's been a miserable wretch since the breakup."

Since breaking up with his girlfriend, he's been unhappy, miserable, not very nice to

hang out with.

So, thinking about The Lion King again, you know, Disney has a lot of movies where parents

die for some reason, like Frozen, the parents die-spoiler alert-Bambi, was it the mother

or father that dies?

Spoiler alert.

And Lion King and then The Good Dinosaur, Pixar, the father dies.

Spoiler alert.

Why do they keep doing this?

Sorry, again.

Okay: "sink" and "synch".

So, "sink", "s-i-n-k", the verb which means to, you know, go below a surface, like the

Titanic sank, which is the past of "sink".

Here's a boat which is sinking.

So: "If you can't swim, you'll sink."

Right?

This is not the same as "drown", which means to die because you can't swim or to die because

you have water in your lungs. Okay?

And it's also a place where you wash your hands, you know, in the bathroom or where

you wash your dishes in your kitchen.

So: "synch", "s-y-n-c-h", this is a verb, it's short for "synchronize".

So: "Let's synch our calendars."

If you have friends and you want to know what they're doing, and you have, you know, an

electronic calendar on your phone, they have one, too, say: "Hey, let's synch our calendars

so that we know what, you know, the other person is doing on which day", and we can

do that, or you can synch your alarms, for example, so you both wake up at the same time.

Number nine: "soul" and "sole".

So, "soul", "s-o-u-l", the noun is, you know, can be the spirit of a deceased person.

Not necessarily deceased.

Some people believe you have a spirit inside you at all times.

This is your soul.

"Soul" can also be the feeling of something, the feeling of a city, for example, a place.

So you can say, if you're in a place that's very dark and depressing, and no one...

There's no life, it's not vibrant, you can say: "The city has no soul."

Or: "You have no soul", which is a very terrible insult if you say: "You have no soul", like

no human feeling.

"Sole", "s-o-l-e" can have a couple of different meanings.

It can be a noun, which means the bottom part of your foot, so the...

If this is your foot, the whole underside of your foot is your sole.

When you go to the store you can buy insoles for your shoes, for example, and you know,

they cover...

Go under the sole of your foot.

It can also mean the one and only.

So, the sole survivor, for example, of a plane crash or something like that.

So: "She is my sole living relative."

If you only have one living family member left in your family, you can say: "She is

my sole living relative", the one and only.

"My sole reason for living", for example.

And finally, number 10: "vial" and "vile".

So, "vial", the noun, here's a picture of a vial that you can often see in doctors'

offices or science labs.

This is a small container that is used for liquids.

So you can have a vial of blood, or a vial of a specific chemical, like ammonia, for example.

Is it ammonia?

Anemia is the disease, right?

Ammonia, ammonia, that's it.

So, then "vile", the adjective, "v-i-l-e", this means wretchedly bad, absolutely disgusting,

awful, terrible.

So: "A vile human being." Right?

If I say: "He is a vile human being", disgusting, terrible, awful.

It's a very strong and horrible word.

And if you want to use both of these: "He filled the vial with a vile poison", a very

strong, gross, disgusting, terrible poison. Okay?

So, speaking of vile, Disney, I can't stand them, guys, they keep killing people.

It can't be...

We need to stop this.

We... Okay, forget it, Alex. Just forget it.

Today we talked about homophones.

Better yet, we talked about advanced homophones.

If you want to go back and watch a video that has 20 more combinations of homophones, 10

at the beginner level, 10 at the intermediate level, you can do so at the link attached

to this video.

And once you do that, I think you'll feel a lot more confident in your English speaking

ability, your English comprehension, your English spelling, and just in general; you'll

be an all-around, more confident, and comfortable English speaker.

My mom is calling me.

I'm just going to turn that off, guys.

Hold on.

In the middle of a video, is just...

It's really rude.

But let's finish that. Okay.

So, if you want to test your understanding of this material, as always, you can check

out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

You can also subscribe to my channel, check me out of Facebook, check me out on Twitter.

And yeah, do all those things, and also donate to the site if you want to support what we

do here.

So, thank you very much, guys, for clicking and I'll see you next time.

I hate Disney.