Homophones That Confuse Everyone: Their, There, They're and 50 More

You can spell "accommodate" without a second thought and still send an email that says "your welcome". Homophone mistakes are strange that way. They are not really failures of spelling knowledge, since almost everyone who writes "your welcome" knows perfectly well what "you're" means. They are slips in the moment of choosing, and they are unusually visible, because the reader notices the wrong word even when every letter is correct.

Homophones are words that sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning: their, there and they're; peace and piece; stationary and stationery. English has hundreds of them, partly because its spelling keeps meanings apart that speech has merged. As the psychologist Mark Seidenberg has pointed out, that is a feature for the reader, who can see at a glance which word is meant, and a burden for the writer, who has to choose.

This guide covers the famous trio and the other contractions that cause most of the trouble, then 50 more homophone sets grouped by where you are likely to meet them, each with a quick way to tell them apart. It ends with a short plan for making the right choice automatic.

Why homophones trip up people who know the difference

When you write quickly, your mind is on the meaning, and the spelling is produced partly from sound. For most words that is fine, because each sound pattern has one spelling you have used thousands of times. With homophones, the same sound pattern leads to two or three spellings, and the one that comes out first is often simply the one you have written most. Your is far more common than you're, its is common in some writing and it's in others, and in a hurry the habit wins.

That is why these mistakes survive in careful writers. They are not ignorance. They are a choice made on autopilot.

Spell-check makes the problem worse rather than better. It checks whether a word exists, not whether it is the word you meant, so "their going to be late" passes cleanly. Grammar checkers catch some of these by reading context, but they miss plenty, especially in short or informal sentences. Our post on why spell-check and autocorrect can weaken your spelling looks at this in more detail.

The fix is to link each spelling firmly to its meaning, and then practice choosing, not just knowing.

Their, there and they're

These three sound identical and are the most commonly confused words in English.

There points to a place, or introduces something: "Put it over there." "There are three options." It contains the word here, and here and there are both about place.

Their shows that something belongs to them: "their house", "their idea". It contains heir, a person who inherits and owns things, which makes a handy hook for ownership.

They're is short for they are: "They're late again." The apostrophe marks the missing letter.

The test that settles it: try saying "they are" in the sentence. If it fits, write they're. If not, ask whether something belongs to someone (their) or whether you are pointing at a place or saying something exists (there). One sentence holds all three: "They're leaving their bags over there."

Your and you're, its and it's

Both pairs follow the same logic as their and they're: one word shows ownership, the other is a contraction.

Your means belonging to you: "your coat", "your turn". You're means you are: "You're right." Say "you are" aloud in the sentence; "You are welcome" works, so it is you're welcome.

Its means belonging to it: "The company changed its name." It's means it is or it has: "It's raining." "It's been a long week."

Its causes the most trouble because apostrophe-s usually does show ownership: the dog's bowl, Maria's car. But the possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: his, hers, ours, yours, theirs, whose, and its. If you can replace the word with "it is" or "it has", use the apostrophe. Otherwise, leave it out.

To, too and two

To is the workhorse: direction (to the store), purpose, or part of a verb (to learn). Too means also or more than enough: "Me too." "It's too hot." It has one more o than it needs, which is exactly what too means. Two is the number, and it shares its w with twin, twelve and twenty.

Pairs that sound nearly the same

Some of the most confused pairs are not strict homophones, because careful speakers pronounce them differently. In fast, relaxed speech, though, the difference disappears, and in writing they cause as much trouble as the real thing.

Accept and except: accept means to receive or agree; except means excluding, and it begins with ex, like exclude. Affect and effect: in everyday use, affect is the verb (the weather will affect our plans) and effect is the noun (the effect was immediate). Lose and loose: lose rhymes with choose and means to misplace or not win; loose rhymes with goose and means not tight. Than and then: than compares (taller than me); then is about time (and then we left). For forty more pairs like these, see our guide to affect, effect and other confused pairs.

50 more homophones, grouped by where you meet them

Each table shows the words, what each means, and one way to tell them apart. Pronunciation follows American English; a few sets sound different in other accents, and those are noted.

Small words and contractions

Everyday words

At home and at the table

At work and in school

Weather, travel and the outdoors

Less common but commonly wrong

Two notes on accents. Some speakers pronounce hour and our differently, especially in careful speech. Weather and whether sound the same for most speakers today, but some Scottish, Irish and Southern American speakers still breathe out an "h" in whether. None of that changes which word you should write.

How to make the right choice automatic

Knowing the difference is the easy part. Choosing correctly at speed takes practice of a specific kind.

Link each spelling to its meaning, once. Use one hook per word, not three. Stationery has e for envelopes. The principal is your pal. Hooks are most useful when they tie the odd letters to the meaning, as heal and health do.

Practice the choice, not the list. Reading down a table feels productive and does little. Cover the right-hand columns and write a sentence for each word from memory, then check. Better still, have someone read sentences aloud while you write the missing word: "The dog wagged ___ tail." This is recall, and recall is what strengthens memory, as Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke showed in their 2006 work on the testing effect.

Mix the pairs up. Practicing its ten times, then it's ten times, lets you coast on repetition. Mixing sentences that need different words forces a real decision each time. Research on interleaving, such as Doug Rohrer and Kelli Taylor's 2007 study, found that mixed practice feels harder and produces better results. Our post on interleaving explains why.

Come back later. A pair you got right today may slip next week. Return to your problem pairs after a few days, then a week, then a month. Words that keep coming back at widening gaps are the ones that stick.

Proofread for your own pairs. Most people have two or three homophones they personally get wrong. Keep a list, and before sending anything important, search the document for those words and check each one. It takes a minute and catches what spell-check never will.

A four-week homophone plan

Week one: the contractions. Their, there, they're; your, you're; its, it's; whose, who's. Use the substitution test on every one you write this week.

Week two: the near-homophones. Accept and except, affect and effect, lose and loose, than and then. Write mixed fill-in-the-blank sentences and check them.

Week three: your personal list. Go through your recent emails or essays and note which of the 50 sets above you actually use. Pick the five or six that cause you trouble and practice those.

Week four: back to week one. Test the contractions again from memory, mixed with your personal set. Anything you miss goes back into daily practice.

If you teach or parent, our guide to teaching homophones so they stick adapts this plan for a classroom or kitchen table.

What to do next

Pick the three homophone sets you most often get wrong, write one hook for each, and practice choosing between them in mixed sentences for five minutes a day this week. Then come back to them next week.

If you would like to practice hearing a word and typing it, Spelling.School does this with a clear voice and a definition shown as a cue, which matters for homophones because the definition tells you which word is meant. You can try five words without signing up.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between their, there and they're?

Their shows that something belongs to a group of people, as in "their house". There refers to a place or introduces something, as in "over there" or "there are three". They're is short for "they are", as in "they're late". If you can replace the word with "they are", use they're; if it shows ownership, use their; otherwise it is almost always there.

Why do I mix up homophones even though I know the difference?

When you write quickly, your attention is on meaning, and the spelling comes out partly from sound. With homophones, one sound leads to several spellings, and the one you have written most often tends to win. That is why careful writers still type "your" for "you're". Practicing the choice in mixed sentences, and proofreading specifically for your personal problem pairs, makes the right word automatic.

Does spell-check catch homophone mistakes?

Usually not. A spell-checker only checks whether a word exists, and every homophone is a real word, so "their going" or "your welcome" passes without a flag. Grammar checkers that read context catch some of these errors, but they miss many, especially in short sentences. The reliable safeguard is knowing your own problem pairs and checking them yourself.

Is it its or it's?

Use it's only when you mean "it is" or "it has", as in "it's raining" or "it's been a week". Use its, with no apostrophe, when something belongs to it, as in "the company changed its name". Possessive pronouns such as his, hers, ours and its never take an apostrophe. Try reading the sentence with "it is": if it makes sense, write it's.

Are affect and effect homophones?

Not strictly, because careful speakers pronounce the first vowel differently, but in normal speech they sound almost the same, so they behave like homophones in writing. In everyday use, affect is a verb meaning to influence, and effect is a noun meaning a result. A simple memory aid is "A for action, E for end result". There are rare exceptions, such as "to effect change", meaning to bring it about.

What is the difference between a homophone and a homonym?

A homophone is a word that sounds like another word but has a different meaning, and usually a different spelling, such as pair and pear. A homonym is usually defined as a word spelled and pronounced the same as another but with a different meaning, such as bat the animal and bat for baseball. Some dictionaries use homonym more loosely to cover both. For spelling, homophones are the ones that cause trouble.

Fix the words you actually get wrong

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