Spelling Homework Help
We all know learning to spell long and complicated words can be a challenge, but surprisingly, many people make spelling errors with small, simple words too. This quick tutorial will cover some basic spelling elements to help you avoid these types of mistakes on your spelling homework assignments.
Help with Spelling Homework
Homophones
Homophones are words that have the same sound but different spellings. They also have different meanings, so you'll need to know what definition goes with the word you're asked to spell. Some common homophones include:
- Air, heir
- Ate, eight
- Blew, blue
- Be, bee
- Hay, hey
- Plain, plane
- Right, write
- Steal, steel
Homographs
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. They have different pronunciations as well. It may help to say the following words aloud to differentiate the pronunciations.
- Bass (beys), bass (bas)
- Does (dohz), does (duhz)
- Bow (bou), bow (boh)
- Desert (dez-ert), desert (dih-zurt)
- Record (ri-kawrd), record (rek-erd)
- Minute (min-it), minute (mahy-noot)
- Object (uh'b-jekt), object (ob-jikt)
- Produce (pruh-doos), produce (proh-doos)
Common Spelling Mistakes
Many of the words above trip students up when they're spelling, but there are some others that actually cause adults to make spelling mistakes as well. Knowing how to avoid these common errors will not only help you become a better speller now, it will also help your writing as you get older. Here are ten of the most common spelling mistakes:
Your and You're
- Your is used to show possession. You're is the contraction of you are.
Its and It's
- Its is used to show possession. It's is the contraction of it is or it has.
Their, They're and There
- Their is used to show possession. They're is the contraction of they are. There refers to a place or idea.
To and Too
- To is a preposition that refers to position, place or direction. Too is an adverb that means 'also' or 'additionally'.
Lose and Loose
- Lose refers to not winning. Loose means not tight.
Effect and Affect
- Effect is a noun meaning something that is often produced by something else. Affect is a verb meaning to act upon.
Weather and Whether
- Weather refers to conditions like rain, snow and sunshine. Whether is conjunction used to introduce and separate alternatives.
Than and Then
- Than is used to compare things. Then refers to time.
Except and Accept
- Except typically means to leave out or exclude. Accept means to receive something.
A Lot
- Alot is not a single word. 'A' and 'lot' are two separate words that must be written with a space between them.
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