Lesson video

Hi there.

I'm Mr. Moss.

I love spelling, and I'm really looking forward to teaching you.

With you for today's spelling lesson, you're going to need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains, as well as that's something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

Let's get into today's spelling lesson then.

In this spelling lesson, we are going to be spelling further homophones.

The outcome will be I can identify the correct spelling of words that sound the same based on their context.

Words that sound the same are homophones.

Here are the key words for today's learning then.

My turn, your turn.

Make sure I can hear you saying these.

Homophone.

Word class.

Context.

Brilliant.

Thanks for saying these back to me.

I know there's only three, but keep an eye in and ear out for them as they're key to the learning today.

Let's have a chat about what they mean then.

Homophones are those words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.

Word class refers to the different types of words that are used to form sentences.

These might be verbs, adjectives, nouns, for instance.

And the context is the surrounding words or sentences that help to determine the meaning of a word or phrase.

Now because we're dealing with homophones today, words that sound the same but that have different spellings, it can sometimes be tricky to know which spelling to use.

The context in the sentence will help us.

Homophones can also often have different word class dependent upon that context.

So here's the outline for today's lesson.

Just two learning cycles.

We're gonna be looking carefully at homophones in that first learning cycle, and then we're going to practise and apply our spellings in that second cycle.

So let's get on with looking at these words that sound the same but are spelt different and have different meanings.

Homophones.

So homophones sound the same but have different meanings.

Let's break this word down then.

It comes from Greek.

Homos or homos, meaning one and the same.

Phon, meaning sound.

If we think about that, you'll be familiar with the word phoneme, the sound.

So together, it means one and the same sound or same sound.

Let's look at some examples.

Next week, we are going on a school trip to the theatre.

That's that week as in seven days, W-E-E-K.

Despite feeling weak, so lacking strength, she pushed herself to finish the race.

Did you hear that? Week and weak both sound the same, but they're spelt differently and have different meanings dependent upon the context of the sentence that they are in.

We have a week as in seven days, W-E-E-K, and weak as in not strong, W-E-A-K.

Although these words sound the same when spoken, they have different spellings and different meanings.

We therefore call these my turn, your turn, homophones.

Good job.

So given what we've just looked at, true or false? Homophones are words that have the same spelling but different meanings.

True or false? Also, try and justify your answer.

Pause the video now.

Off you go.

Great, this is false.

Homophones are not words that have the same spelling but different meanings.

That will be homonyms. Homophones, remember, are those words that sound the same but that have different spellings and different meanings.

Homonyms can be spelt the same and also be pronounced differently too.

Although they can sound the same and have different meanings.

We are looking at words that sound the same but have different spellings, homophones.

So let's read some examples of homophones now.

My turn, your turn.

Led.

I led the way.

Bridal.

She attended a bridal shower.

Steal.

Don't steal that.

Whose.

Whose coat is this? Stationary.

The train was stationary in the station.

Principle.

That is a very important principle to follow, means an idea.

Morning.

Good morning.

Brilliant, these words are all homophones.

Let's have a look then at some of the other words that are linked to these words that sound the same but that have different spellings and different meanings.

I'm sure maybe you know some of them already.

So we could have lead spelt L-E-A-D.

That could be as in the material lead that might be used to line pipes.

We can have bridal and bridle.

Our A-L bridal is to do with a bride or someone getting married, but bridle, B-R-I-D-L-E at the end there is a piece of equipment that's used to direct a horse.

Steel could be like the metal steel, S-T-E-E-L, or steal, like taking something that doesn't belong to you.

We could have who is, who's with our contraction, our apostrophe for contraction, or whose in whose is this? Stationary, A-R-Y, is an adjective meaning not moving, being still, but stationery, E-R-Y, is what you might buy from a stationer.

Someone who might sell you items for writing like pencil, pens, paper.

Principle, L-E, is like an idea, but principal, A-L, is like the first and most important.

And then mourning, our strange O-U-R spelling.

Mourning, that O-U-R making that our sound is as in to be grieving the loss of someone who's potentially died.

So be careful, homophones are really difficult 'cause they sound exactly the same but have different spellings and very different meanings.

So the way that a word is spelt, and its place within a sentence, its context as well will tell us the meaning.

Can you spot the homophones in these sentences that I'm going to show you? Our school's guiding principle is kindness towards others.

The principal ballerina is often referred to as the prima or prima ballerina.

Okay, read the sentences again.

Which words are homophones? Those words that sound the same but are spelt different and have different meanings.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

So it is the word principle here and principal here.

Principle, P-L-E at the end there is as in an idea.

The guiding principle, the guiding ideas is kindness towards others.

So something that's really important there.

But principal A-L is the ballerina, the head ballerina, the most important one, the leader.

Homophones can belong to different word classes as well.

So they could be nouns, adjectives, or verbs.

Knowing their meaning helps us to understand and spell them.

The word principle, that word we just looked at a minute ago, spelt with an L-E at the end refers to a basic law, or belief, or an idea.

Our school's guiding principle is kindness towards others.

The word principal with our A-L means the most important.

It can be both an adjective and a noun.

The principal ballerina is often referred to as the prima ballerina.

There, it is an adjective, or I can have it as a noun.

The principal, like the head of school, the head teacher greets us at the school gate every day.

Here, it is a noun.

Watch out.

So with that knowledge of the two meanings of principle, I'm wondering if you can please select the correct spelling in each sentence.

Read the sentences, think about the context, and think about the spelling you would need to use to have it make sense.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, team.

Really careful consideration there, the different meanings of that homophone principle.

So our principle aim is to ensure the wellbeing of the community.

This is our L-E spelling, that like firm law or belief.

You must be respectful to the principal.

Here, we're being respectful to that authoritative figure, that noun principal.

It takes a lot of dedication to become a principal ballerina.

That most important, that lead ballerina.

So it's that adjective version here of principal, A-L, ballerina, great.

So unlike many other rules that we will have looked at during spelling, there are no patterns for homophones, which is what makes them so tricky.

The meaning and the word class of the homophones can be determined by their context, their position, and the words around them within a sentence.

Homophones can also belong to a range of word classes, remember.

Could be verbs, adjectives, or nouns.

Think about that word principle that we just looked at.

So read these two sentences for me.

Can you spot the homophones? Off you go.

Good job.

Great reading.

I led the way to the campsite.

He replaced the corroded pipes with lead piping.

So something's corroded, okay, it's been worn away and is no longer there.

It needs replacing.

Listen to it again.

I led the way to the campsite.

He replaced the corroded pipes with lead piping.

So lead here is our homophone.

It sounds the same, but you'll see it's spelt differently, and it has very different meanings.

From the context of the sentences.

Do you think you could work out the word class of the homophones here? 'Cause they each have a different word class.

Think about whether it's going to be a noun, an adjective, or a verb.

Pause the video now.

See if you can figure out the word class.

Off you go.

Brilliant job.

So led as in I led the way to the campsite is a verb.

It's a doing or action word, isn't it? He replaced the corroded pipes with lead piping.

Here, it's a noun.

It's the material that piping is made out of.

Be careful also of lead because it can also be a homonym.

I could pronounce it differently and say lead, which would be a different tense of that word lead, the present tense.

I lead you where you need to go.

Watch out, homonyms are different to homophones 'cause they don't sound the same.

They're words that are spelt the same, but that can be pronounced differently and have different meanings.

So read these two sentences for me.

Can you spot the homophones? Off you go.

Lovely reading everyone.

The vehicle was stationary but nobody got out.

Buying new stationery is always very exciting for me.

So our homophone here is stationary.

Now interestingly, it has our A-R-Y and our E-R-Y suffixes, doesn't it? And these can be very easily confused because they sound the same.

Can you use the context of the sentence to work out the meaning of the word as well as the word class that it belongs to? Great job.

So the vehicle was stationary.

Stationary there is an adjective.

It's describing the vehicle, and it means that it's not moving.

Buying new stationery is always very exciting for me.

That's the thing you are buying.

It's a noun, a PPT.

The way I often remember the difference between this A-R-Y and this E-R-Y spelling as well is the stationer, er, E-R, sells you stationery.

So from those homophones that we've just looked at, I want you to select the correct spelling in each sentence so that the sentence makes sense.

Remember to look carefully at this context and then consider its meaning, its spelling, and perhaps even its word class.

Off you go, team.

Fantastic, so let's read through these together, and find the correct answers.

Year four led this week's assembly.

Well, that's an action, isn't it? It's something that year four are doing.

So it's our LED.

Our past tense of lead.

Lead is a toxic metal.

So that's our noun, not our verb.

So it's our L-E-A-D.

Remember to be careful with the homonym here.

The traffic has been stationary for an hour.

That's our A-R-Y.

It's an adjective being used to describe that traffic.

And do you have any stationery I could borrow? That's our E-R-Y.

That's our noun, that a stationer, E-R, remember, might sell to you.

How did you do there? So we can come up with our own ideas to help us remember the spellings of homophones, and we can be really creative with this 'cause remember, there's no clear and obvious patterns.

We just need to learn them.

The bridal party running late for the wedding.

So this is the party of the bride, okay? Grab hold of the bridle and lead the horse into the stable.

This is bridle as in a noun.

A piece of equipment used to lead a horse.

They both sound the same.

They're homophones, but they're spelt differently.

And if we were to use the wrong word in each sentence, the sentence wouldn't make sense.

So how can we help remember them? Look at the letter that's different.

We have the A and the E and the order of that A and E and L and E.

So you could think of the E in bridle as referring to equine equipment.

Equine to do with horses, which should help you remember that this spelling is associated with those horses.

I will look at these homophones.

Morning and mourning.

Morning, O-R, is as in good morning, the sun rose in the morning.

And mourning, O-U-R, as is in that period of grieving at the loss of someone.

I will come up with a way to remember how to spell them.

The extra U in mourning makes me think of the word upset.

People feel upset when they're mourning.

They're grieving, they're sad.

So I can remember that extra U is being upset.

So that spelling of mourning means to be upset.

You are now going to have a look at these homophones for me.

Steel and steal.

Can you come out of your own way to remember how to spell them? Steal, E-A-L there, is as in to take something that doesn't belong to you.

Steel as in S-T-E-E-L is that metal steel.

How are you going to creatively try and remember these? Pause the video and have a think now.

Brilliant, some lovely creative ideas there, team.

So what I want you to do for me now is to listen to the full sentences.

I want you to choose the correct homophone to fill the gap as well.

They wore black because they were mourning a loved one.

The bus was stationary until the traffic lights went green.

Sustainability is the company's key principle.

She decided to steal a cookie from the jar.

I know it's morning when I hear the bird singing.

So our words are mourning, stationary, principle, steal, and morning.

Think carefully about their position in the sentence, their context, the word class that they'll be, and then the spelling of each particular homophone.

I'll say them one more time.

Mourning, stationary, principle, steal, morning.

Pause the video.

Off you go.

Excellent job, team.

Really creative use there of some of the ways that you were kind of trying to remember those homophones.

Remember, there's no clear rules here, so it's quite difficult.

Perhaps you remembered our first one here, mourning with that extra U is because it's when people are upset.

They were black because they were mourning a loved one.

The bus was stationary until the traffic lights went green.

Now remember, stationary isn't that noun.

Those things you can use to write that you get from a stationer, E-R.

This is stationary as in the adjective, being used to describe the bus here.

Sustainability is the company's key principle.

It's not our A-L spelling, it's our L-E spelling, that key belief.

She decided to steal a cookie from the jar.

It's not the metal steel, so it's not E-E-L, it's E-A-L.

And we've already had one morning.

This is the other morning as in waking up in the morning.

I know it's morning when I hear the birds sing.

So just our O-R spelling.

How did you do there? Make any corrections now.

Onto our next learning cycle then, which is going to be to practise and apply some of the spellings that we've been looking at.

Let's read the following curriculum words.

My turn, your turn.

According.

According to him, that is correct.

Individual.

Individual liberty is a key principle.

Do you notice something strange about the way that these words are spoke compared to how they sound? Do you think that might be anything tricky about them? Pause the video and have a think.

Great job.

So I've noticed a couple of things.

In according, there's a double C, which could be tricky to remember.

And in individual, there's this strange A-L at the end, isn't there? That's working at the end.

But it's making a U sound like the word fuel, like the fuel in a vehicle.

So individual.

We don't say individual, individual.

It's working together to make a strange sound.

So be careful with that A-L at the end there.

So think about the words we've just read.

Quickfire round.

Point to the correct spelling of according, go.

Great job.

Remember, there's that double C that's tricky here, according.

The next word is individual.

Watch out for the end of this word.

Point to the correct spelling of individual now.

Brilliant, remember it's that U-A-L, making that uel at the end there like fuel.

Individual, watch out for the ending of that word.

So look out for the homophones and contractions as well.

Remember, we can use apostrophes for contraction where we're adding two words together, shorting them, removing a letter or some letters, and replacing it with an apostrophe.

We can use these in less formal pieces of writing.

So who's happy to present their ideas to the class? Who's happy to present their ideas to the class? Do you know whose coat this is? So homophone alert, we have who's and whose, but they both are spelt differently and have very different meanings.

When you're ready, you can line up at the door.

You left your coat on the bench in the playground.

So again, homophone alert, we have you're and your, but notice they're spelt differently.

One of them also is a contraction, you and are, you're.

So expanding the contracted form and saying it in the sentence can help you to decide if the spelling is correct.

These words come up frequently in your reading and writing, and are really important to remember.

So if I were to say who is happy to present their ideas to the class, that would make sense.

So I know it's my contracted form.

But in the other sentence, I wouldn't say, do you know who is coat this is? So it wouldn't be my contracted form, it's my homophone spelling, W-H-O-S-E.

When you are ready, you can line up at the door.

That works, doesn't it? My expanded form.

But if I were to say, you left you are coat on the bench in the playground, that would not make sense.

So it's not my contracted spelling.

It's my homophone spelling, Y-O-U-R, that possessive spelling.

So with that in mind, I'd like you to have a go at selecting the correct spellings in each sentence now.

Remember to say the expanded form to see if your contracted form works.

And if it doesn't work, it is not going to be that contracted form.

It'll be the homophone, the other spelling.

Off you go now.

Select the correct spellings.

Great job, team.

Loved hearing you there say the expanded forms to see if they worked.

So who is going to the party tonight? That works, doesn't it? So I know it's going to be who is who's is my contracted form.

Who is book does this belong to? Well, that doesn't make sense, does it? So it's whose that possessive, W-H-O-S-E.

You are presentation was full of interesting content.

No, that doesn't sound right, does it? So it's our possessive, your, Y-O-U-R.

You are doing a brilliant job at learning your lines.

I said it with the expanded form.

That makes sense, doesn't it? So I know it can be you are, your with my apostrophe.

Brilliant.

How did you do there? Remember, saying expanded form can really help us with these homophones.

Spelling rules can help us to know how to spell words, but practise is also really, really useful.

When you practise, you remember the words more easily.

You get better at noticing how words are spelt and the difficult parts of them, and you become more confident with using them.

There are loads of different spelling strategies that we can use, but one that's really useful when looking at homophones is the naughty letter strategy 'cause often there's only one or two letters that are different.

So we're gonna look at the naughty letter strategy.

Say that for me.

Naughty letters.

So the naughty letter strategy can help us in several ways.

First, we have to look really carefully at the word and pay close attention to its spelling and any tricky letters in it.

Then we copy the word out correctly, showing the tricky part of the word by writing the letter larger.

This helps us to really pay attention to the tricky parts or the bits of that word that we might forget.

You could even draw a naughty letter in, a naughty face, sorry, in that letter too.

So here's an example of the word see.

This is a homophone, isn't it? We can have see as in I see you or sea as in the salty sea.

You can see I've added eyes to see to help me remember that I'm using my eyes to see.

And I've added a wave underneath sea, E-A, because it's the wave of the sea.

Really quickly, what order do these go in for this strategy of naughty letters? Do you copy of a naughty letter or look carefully? Which one goes first, which comes second? Put them in order.

Brilliant.

Of course, we always have to look carefully.

And then we copy with a naughty letter, making it larger, maybe adding a face in too.

We should always, no matter the spelling practise we're doing, always look carefully at spellings that we're learning to consider what might be difficult about them.

It's really important.

So I want you now to choose three spellings to practise using the naughty letter strategy with.

Practise some homophones here, or perhaps one of the words that we've looked at as a curriculum word earlier that had naughty letters.

I, for instance, I'm gonna practise principal, spell A-L because of that naughty A.

Whose with that S-E at the end there, and individual with that U-A-L, for that uel sound.

Choose the spellings that you found most difficult this lesson.

Choose those words now.

Brilliant.

Now you've got them in front of you, look carefully at them and consider the naughty letters.

Copy them out with that naughty letter or letters larger and maybe draw some naughty faces on them too.

Off you go, team.

Brilliant job.

I'm so impressed that you're taking such responsibility for your own learning here.

So I chose principal, whose, and individual.

In principal, I saw that the A was a naughty letter there that I needed to try to remember.

So I've copied it out larger and I spelt them correctly.

In whose, it's that E at the end there that I need to remember.

Its this possessive whose.

And then individual.

It's that A-L at the end that I need to remember for that uel sound there.

So I've drawn them bigger.

Perhaps you've added some naughty faces to yours as well.

So, did you enjoy writing them out this way? Could you share with me now or share with those around you which words you chose and why you chose those, which letters you chose and why? Off you go.

Brilliant, it's also really important that you check back and make sure you've spelt these words correctly against the correct spelling too.

So make sure you do that as well.

Great job in spelling today, team.

We've been looking at spelling further homophones.

Homophones, remember, are those words that sound the same, but they have different spellings and meanings.

The meaning and word class of homophones can be determined by their context and their position within a sentence.

There are no spelling rules for homophones, so you must learn them by site and use some practise strategies such as naughty letters to help us remember them.

That naughty letter strategy can help us remember tricky spellings or the tricky letters are in spellings.

Keep up the great spelling practise.

Keep an eye and an ear out for those homophones, and I'll see you again soon.