Homonyms (words that sound alike)

My husband and I would like to talk to you for a moment about homonyms, or, more pedantically, homophones and homographs (words that sound alike and words that are spelled alike respectively).

We know you don’t care about the actual terms. (We’ll let you in you on a secret: almost no one does.) But you do care about the concepts. Think of there, their and they're, for exmple.

Homonyms

Homonyms are words that sound the alike, but don’t mean the same thing. We have noted several abuses of the words there and their in documents recently.

There as an adverb or noun usually indicates a place or position, as in:
     There were a number of reasons for the protest, but the end result was the same.

Their is a possessive pronoun, or third person plural, as in:
     They picked up their chairs and hurled them from the rotunda.
They’re is a contraction of they and are, as in:
     They’re feeling much better now.

Homophones

Words that sound alike. For example, piece (and peace) of mind. Giving someone a piece of mind (as in a piece of my mind) – is not the same as giving that person peace of mind (as in a peaceful mind).
Other common homophones include:

And/End
What with one thing and another, …
He reached the end of his rope.
Buy/By/Bye
Buy it now.
By the time you read this letter…
Bye for now.
Threw/Through
She already threw the cat.
She passed through the hall.
Your/You're
Please include your postal code.
You’re one of a kind, baby.
Homographs
Words that are spelled alike, but with different meanings and - often - origins, as in bow (to a lady) and bow (on a gift-wrapped present).

Homophones are much less misused than homographs (except, perhaps, by loquacious queens).
Rules of thumb

• Don’t count on your own proofreading to catch homonyms and homophones – you’re mind sees what it expects to see, not what you wrote. And never count on an electronic grammar checker to find accidental homonyms and homophones. Even the best word processors are only marginally successful.
• Context is the only way you can tell if a word is being used correctly, and no electronic grammar check is foolproof.
• Always ask someone else to review your correspondence, email and other documents before distributing them.

Thank you for your time and attention in this matter.

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