Pesky Homophones Can Wreak Havoc on Your Writing

Even the best freelance writers make spelling mistakes, especially when it comes to words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Yes, homophones can drive you crazy if you let them. You can spend hours proofreading your work but still glance over a spelling error. It happens, don’t sweat it. Find your mistake, correct it, and move onto to another writing project. Make sure you keep a look out for other misspelled words!

Relying on your Word program’s spelling and grammar to catch all of your spelling mistakes isn’t wise. It won’t catch words that sound the same but are spelled differently. You must proofread your work with a ‘fine tooth comb’ to catch those errors.

Words that sound the same but aren’t spelled the same

Ad and add
Allowed and aloud
Arc and ark
Are, our, and hour
Ate and eight
Bail and bale
Be and bee
Bear and bare
Board and bored
Buy and by
Cede and seed
Cereal and serial
Chews and choose
Cite and sight
Click and clique
For, fore, and four
Hail and hale
Heard, herd, and hurd
Its and it’s
Meet and meat
Tail and tale
Their and there (common mistake)
There and their
Weather, wether, and whether
Whine and wine
Write and right
You’re and your (common mistake)

This is just a ‘snapshot’ of words that sound the same but are spelled differently. The only way to ensure you’re using the proper words is to read and re-read your work before you send it off to the editor or post it on your website. Good luck!

Rebecca

How often do you use the wrong spelling of a word when you write? Share.