To, Too, or Two?: Fun with English Homophones

Have you heard of English ‘homophones’? Do you know the difference between wound and wound? What about to, too, and two?

If you do, you’re probably a pretty proficient English speaker. But even fluent speakers need a brush up once in a while!

Homophones are two or more words that sound the same but have different spellings and/or meanings.

Check out this list of homophones and see how many you get right!

To, Too, Two

There are three different spellings for the word to (or too, or two), all pronounced the same way.

To means expressing movement, such as when you’re “going to the park.” Too means in addition to something, like “Bob came along, too.” And finally, two is the number, as in “I have two siblings.”

Wound, Wound

Have you ever wound a bandage around a wound?

The ‘ou’ sound in English can make six different sounds; such as in could (pronounced like book), south (like in house), fought (pronounced like cough), although (like go), enough (as sun), and wound (like moon). Kinda crazy, huh?

Give it a practice with words like wound (the past tense of wind) and wound (a deep injury). Soon you’ll be top of the class!

Wind, Wind

Keeping on track with words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, what do you know about the difference between wind and wind?

To wind (the ‘i’ sounds like ‘eye’) means to twist in a spiral-like way, and when the ‘i’ is pronounced like that in the word ‘in’, it’s for the word that describes the movement of air. Have you ever seen the wind winding through the trees on a crisp autumn day?

Timber, Timbre

Have you ever found the timbre of someone’s voice really pleasing? Could they have been lumberjack that cuts down forests of timber?

Timbre (pronounced “tam-ber”) is a combination of sounds that distinguishes from other sounds of the same pitch and volume. It’s part of how we can recognize different voices. Timber (pronounced “tim-ber” as it looks), on the other hand, are trees that have been cut down to be used as wood.