These three words they are exploring are homophones because when said aloud, they sound the same, but are spelled differently. To be honest, I never truly mastered the use of these three words until the middle of my college career. I wrote a lengthy paper for my European History class and the professor took to time to bring up how no one should be given a college degree, if they cannot differentiate the use of these three homophones. From that day forward, I had true mastery of these words. It is amazing what a little embarrassment will do to motivate us.

The word "their" is a is a possessive pronoun it demonstrates ownership. It is the possessive form of the word "they". It means that something belongs to another and establishes that relationship. The word "there" is normally used as an adjective. It can also be used as an exclamation such as in the sentence: "there, I told you so!" The best way to remember the use of the word "there" is that it is the exact opposite of the word "here". The word "they're" is a contraction of the words "they are" or "they were". Students commonly confuse this contraction with the possessive form due to the apostrophe, but it is just shortened form of saying "they are". Honestly to this day, when I run into the use of one of these three words, I just take my time and read it very slowly. These worksheets start by asking students to identify which of the words (they're, there, their) would best complete the statement. We also have them fill statements by writing the words themselves. As we advance on students will write their own original thoughts while using these words in the correct context. The goal when using this word, that you will see as you explore these exercises, is to read the statements and original thoughts quietly to yourself to see which would best fit in each situation.