When you are reading you will often come across words that are said aloud or pronounced the same way, but have completely different spellings, not only that they have completely different meanings. When it is dark out because the sun sets, we usually refer to that as night. Back in the twelfth century knights were the leaders of crusading armies. These two concepts are completely different, yet the subjects have totally distinct meanings. Homophones also are the culprit in many common misspellings. Examples include write and right, knot and not, flour and flower. It doesn't matter when you are speaking, but when you are writing, it makes all the difference in the world.
The following collection of activity sheets will teach your students how to spot and interpret homophones. Students will be asked to choose the correct word using sentence context clues. Activities include fill in the blank, choosing the correct term from a given word bank, defining given word sets, correcting erroneous words within a given sentence, and more. Answer keys have been provided for instructors. Extra project idea: Have your students construct a Venn diagram with homographs on one side, homophones on the other, and homonyms in the middle. Where do they see the overlap?