Close vs Close | Learn English Heteronyms

Hello, everyone. My name is Fiona.

Today we're going to be looking at two words. These two words.

They look the same and they almost sound the same,

but they're different.

Keep watching to find out what the difference is

and to help improve your English pronunciation and English listening skills.

Let's get started.

First I'll say the sentence quickly.

Really listen.

‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it.’

Now again, but slower.

‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it.’

Okay let's see the sentence.

‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it.’

What words go in these two gaps? Any ideas?

Well the answer is - ‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it.’

You can see that they look the same, but they mean different things.

Now, let's have a look at our two words. We have ‘close’ and ‘close’.

They are spelled in the same way,

but they have different meanings and different pronunciation.

It's what we call a heteronym.

Now what's a heteronym? Two words.

Same spelling. Different meaning. Different pronunciation.

Okay let's start with the meaning and pronunciation of our first word -

‘close’

‘close’ is an adjective. It means that something is near to me.

I have two sentences to help show this. The first one,

‘You're standing too close to me.’

The person is too near.

They're taking up my room - my space. It's a physical distance.

You're too close to me.

The second sentence isn't a physical distance,

but an emotional one.

‘My mother and I are very close.’

My mother isn't here right now.

We're not physically close, we're emotionally close.

We have a very good relationship.

Okay let's practice pronunciation.

The word is ‘close’.

Repeat after me.

‘close’

Now let's look at the meaning and pronunciation of our second word.

‘close’

‘close’ is a verb. An action word.

It means to shut. The opposite is to open.

I have two sentences to show you this.

First one,

‘Please close the window. I'm cold.’

I'm asking you to shut the window.

Sentence number two -

‘I close my eyes before I sleep.’

‘I close my eyes before I sleep.’

Now let's have a look at pronunciation.

Repeat after me.

‘close’

Now let's have a look at our main sentence.

‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it.’

We've looked at ‘close’ and ‘close’,

but let's not forget ‘I'm’ and ‘I’ll’.

I'm close - I'm near to the door so I'll close it. I'll shut it.

I will do it.

Okay let's practice.

I'm gonna say it slowly to start and then we'll speed up.

‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it’

‘I'm close to the door so I'll close it’

Well done.

Great job guys.

You got some awesome English listening and English pronunciation practice in today.

If you want to leave a comment to let me know what you thought of this video,

leave them down below.

And, as always, I'm really really thankful for my student's support.

I'll see you in the next video.