English Homophones for Beginners – different words that sound the same!

Oh, hey.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this beginner lesson on homophones.

If you don't know, homophones are a category of homonyms,

and homophones are words that

sound the same, but they have a different spelling when you write them and they have

a different meaning as well.

Okay?

So in this video I am going to look at 10 groups of homophones; some of them have two

words that, you know, have the same sound, some of them have three words that have the

same sound, but a different spelling and a different meaning.

The first three I'm going to show you, these are like the holy trinity of mistakes when

people are writing English, and basically don't worry if you make these mistakes as

a new English learner.

I have friends on my Facebook who make these mistakes in writing all the time as well.

So they're very important to know, identify, and to correct.

Okay?

So first: "it's" and "its".

Same sound, different spelling.

"It's", "i-t", apostrophe "s" is just a contracted form, the contraction for "it is".

Okay?

And "its" with no apostrophe is the third person possessive.

It's a possessive adjective.

So, for example, I was reading a book, this is The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller.

I've been reading it for a few days, I'm enjoying it.

So: "It's a good book and its cover..."

Right? Possessive.

"Its cover is really nice.

It's a good book.

It is a good book, and its cover is really nice."

All right, I'm going to put this down for the rest of the video.

Next: "they're", "their", "there".

We have "they're", "t-h-e-y" apostrophe "r-e", just like "it's", if you see the apostrophe

- contraction.

"They are".

"Their", "t-h-e-i-r" is the third person plural possessive adjective.

And "there", "t-h-e-r-e" is usually used as an adverb of place.

So, for example: "They're there with their dog."

So: "They are there"-location-"with their"-possessive-"dog".

Okay?

So: "They are there with their dog.

They're there with their dog."

All right.

And the third one...

If only, if only people would not make this mistake.

"You're" and "your".

Again, apostrophe...

As soon as you see the apostrophe, it's a contraction.

So this means it's usually two separate words.

"You're", "you are".

Okay?

And then "your" is the second person possessive, a possessive adjective as well.

So: "You're not with your parents, are you?"

If you're talking on the phone with your friend-possessive, "y-o-u-r", your friend-you can say:

"Hey. Why are you talking, like, so funny?

You're not with your parents, are you?"

Okay?

So, these three, I started with them because they are the most common mistakes, not only

for new English learners, but also for long-time born and raised English speakers.

So now we're going to go to some other ones, and you guys just follow me.

Okay.

Now that we have taken care of the most common mistakes, let's look at some other ones.

First: "close" and "clothes".

"Close", "c-l-o-s-e" is a verb which is the opposite of open.

Okay?

So you close a door.

Next: "clothes" is a noun, it's a permanently plural noun, and "clothes" refers to what

you wear, so a t-shirt, or pants, or a jacket.

These are clothes.

For example: "Close the door!

I'm putting on my clothes!"

All right? So: "Close the door!

I am putting on my clothes!"

Next: "ate" and "eight".

"A-t-e" is the past of the verb "eat", "e-i-g-h-t" is the number, which I put there, eight.

So he...

"He ate eight hot dogs."

Okay?

There's a hot dog, I think, times eight, so:

"He ate eight (8) hot dogs."

Next: "here", "hear".

"H-e-r-e" is an adverb of place.

You are here on www.engvid.com or maybe on YouTube, depending where you're watching it.

And "hear" is the verb, it's a sensory verb when you, you know, use your ears.

In case you can't tell by my art that this is an ear, you hear with your ear.

So: "I can't hear you from here."

So when I am standing here and you're far away, I can't hear you from here.

I will go closer to you or you need to come closer.

Okay.

Next: "dear", "deer".

So "dear", the adjective, which means beloved or loved.

You often start letters with this.

Or if you've ever seen a lot of English films or TV shows, and they show a character writing

a letter or typing an email, you might see them put: "Dear Martha", "Dear Fred", "Dear" whoever,

so it's just a way to start a letter usually.

And "deer" is a noun.

A deer is an animal.

A delicious, delicious animal.

No.

Deer, if you think of Bambi, that's...

Those are deer basically.

So, for example: "Dear Santa", this is a child writing a letter to Santa, if you believe

in Santa.

"Can I have a deer for Christmas?"

Yeah.

I guess, sure, a kid would want, you know, a deer for Christmas.

Maybe.

It's possible. Anything's possible.

You try making up these examples, guys, it's very hard sometimes.

All right, we got three more so let's go to them.

Okay, three more, like I said.

So, first: "bye", "by", "buy".

Not like the NSYNC song, "Bye, Bye, Bye".

If you want to say that bye, it's b-y-e, which is short for: "Good-bye."

Next: "b-y" is the preposition, which means like near or around the area, so:

"Oh, I'm by the elevator.

I'm by the lake. I'm by your apartment."

In the area of, near to.

And "buy", "b-u-y" is a verb which means to purchase, to give money for something and

to get it.

Okay?

So: "Don't say 'bye' before you buy something by the lake."

So, you know, maybe your friend lives by a very nice area and there's a large lake with

many gift shops.

It's a crazy example, but you know, you get the meanings of the words. Right?

So: "Don't say 'bye' before you buy something by the lake."

Next: "flower" and "flour".

This is a flower, it smells nice.

"Flour", "f-l-o-u-r" is a white powder that is used in baking.

So if you make cookies or pancakes, or anything like that, that white powder that, you know,

you see in so many movies, it gets on people's faces and usually it's in comedies - that

is flour.

So: "Ah, I spilled flour on your flower."

So sad. Right?

And finally: "our", "o-u-r" which is the first person plural possessive and "hour", which

is the unit of time that runs to 60 minutes.

So: "Our hour is finished."

This video wasn't an hour, but you know, you get the idea.

All right.

And one more thing, guys, I know some of you before I see you in the comments and you say:

"But Alex, 'close' and 'clothes' are two different pronunciations", okay.

Depending on who you are, you're probably right.

Some people do pronounce "c-l-o-t-h-e-s" slightly differently than "close", but a lot of the

population has no difference in pronunciation.

So: "My clothes. Close the door."

Same thing. To me it's the same.

I pronounce it the exact same way.

Okay, if you want to test your understanding of this material, as always,

you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

And don't forget to, you know, subscribe to my YouTube channel, check me out on Facebook

and on Twitter.

And if you want to support what we do at engVid, you can always donate at the support link

that is, you know, on the site and that is also attached to this video.

And you will notice that this says: "Homophones: Beginner".

Stick around because I do have videos that are coming up about intermediate level homophones

and advanced level homophones.

So, stick around.

And for now, bye.

Which "bye"?

"B-y", "b-u"...?

I need to study.

Bye.