Homophones and Similar Sounds - Why is English So Difficult?

Learning a new language is a huge test of determination and commitment of time.

At the end of your language learning journey, you will have all the vocabulary you need to be able to talk to someone in the language you have chosen but you might find yourself struggling more than you think.

Why might that be?

This can often be because the sounds of words are so similar, homophones and similar pronunciations can cause you a difficult time when you first get out there and start speaking to Native English speakers.

Why do we have such different spellings for the same sounds?

English in particular can be really tricky and that is mainly because we have been invaded in the past many times, (although the last time was in 1066 and we still haven’t forgiven France for that one...).

We are also, relatively speaking, a very small island, once joined on to mainland Europe quite a few thousand years ago.

This means that seafaring nations like the Scandinavian countries, as well as others have looked across at the little island just 20 or so miles off the coast of France and thought:

“Hmmm, wonder what goes on over there?”

Consequently we have many strange spelling rules. Much of our vocabulary is of French origin, with some Scandinavian and Germanic roots thrown in, as well as quite a bit of Latin from when the Romans successfully invaded and occupied Great Britain, a couple of thousand years ago and introduced flushing toilets - yes that's correct, the Romans introduced flushing toilets.

Our family once had a young Italian student staying with us over the summer, and I was showing him how to iron his shirt. He was looking so worried that I said, “Don’t worry, you won’t ruin it.”

He looked utterly confused and said “But it’s a shirt, it can’t be a ruin.”

He was realising that the word “ruin” has two meanings, one to be spoilt and unusable and one being a building which has fallen down and cannot be used.

Check out these other words that have multiple meanings below:

A bat flies around at night, looking for insects. This is a mammal.

The ball was hit so hard by a bat, it landed in the next door garden. The bat is a piece of sporting equipment used for hitting a ball.

In Spring, I plant flowers.  Spring is one of the four seasons and usually has a capital letter, which helps you understand the meaning of it in the sentence.

The spring on the chair was broken so I fell on the floor. The spring is part of the components of the chair.

He sprung for drinks. This is a more “slang” version of the word and means the person paid for everyone to have drinks.

The spring was ice cold and flowed down the mountain. It means a small river of water which usually begins underground.

The week felt very long before the weekend came. A series of 5 days, usually where people have a job.

I felt so weak, I couldn’t pick the basket up. This means the opposite of strong so you can say weak tea as well, if you are a tea drinker and prefer your tea to not be so strong! 

The most common ones for people writing in English are there, their and they’re.

Most Native English speakers get them wrong - believe it or not!

Go over there and wait for me.  It is a location, a place to be.

Their names are on the chairs.  The names belong to the people. They own them.

They’re going to queue at the bar for drinks. This is just a short version of “they are”. If you are not sure, don’t use it, say “they are “ instead.

These are just a few examples of words which sound the same but have different meanings and are called Homophones. Homo= the same and phone= related to sound.

They are more tricky if you are writing English, as when you are using spoken English, it will sound the same, and people will only be able to tell which homophone you are using, based on the context of the sentence.

Try writing sentences using all forms of the same word.

Their coats are over there where they’re standing.

You give it a go! - Do you know any other homophones?

If you would like help practicing the pronunciation, or perhaps would like some lessons on the English language please check out our teachers here - see teachers