English Learner's Guide to Homophones and Heteronyms

Ewes use yews for shade. The price for fare was fair at the county fair. He does not see the does. These examples demonstrate why pronunciation and spelling can be difficult for English learners.

English has many words that sound the same -- or almost the same -- but are spelled differently (homophones). There are also words that sound differently and have different meanings but are spelled the same (heteronyms). Collected here are many of these words along with International Pronunciation Alphabet (IPA) pronunciations, definitions and parts of speech. Section I contains more than 1,100 homophone groups, each having two or more words, for a total of more than 2,400 words. Section II contains over 200 heteronyms. The IPA pronunciations are those most likely heard in everyday American speech. Many synonyms are provided with usage examples. Some words are used more often than others -- some you may never need to use.