Homophones Worksheet | Grade1to6.com - Free Printable

Homophones and Near Homophones Worksheet – Solution

This worksheet asks students to match homophones or near homophones — words that sound the same or very similar but have different meanings and spellings.

Let’s go through each pair systematically. A homophone is a word that sounds exactly like another word but has a different meaning and spelling (e.g., *there* and *their*). A near homophone may sound similar but not identical (e.g., *knot* and *not*).

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#### 🔹 Box 1: Left Pink Box → Right Green Box
We are to match words from the pink box on the left with their homophones in the green box on the right.

| Left (Pink) | Matched Homophone | Reason |
|-------------|-------------------|--------|
| accept | except | Both pronounced /əkˈsept/; "accept" means to agree, "except" means excluding |
| affect | effect | Pronounced /əˈfekt/ and /ɪˈfekt/ — near homophones; "affect" = influence, "effect" = result |
| ball | bawl | Sound alike: /bɔːl/; "ball" = round object, "bawl" = cry loudly |
| berry | bury | Pronounced /ˈberi/ and /ˈberi/; "berry" = fruit, "bury" = inter |
| brake | break | Same pronunciation /breɪk/; "brake" = car part, "break" = stop |
| bawl | bowl | Wait — "bowl" is missing? Let's check... Actually, “bowl” isn't listed. But “bawl” is paired with “ball” above? That doesn’t make sense.

Wait — let's re-analyze carefully.

Actually, the worksheet shows:

> Left Pink Box:
> accept, affect, ball, berry, brake, bawl, break, effect, bury

But wait — it's actually two columns:

- Left Column (Pink):
accept
affect
ball
berry
brake

- Right Column (Pink):
bawl
break
effect
bury
(Note: "except" is already connected to "accept")

So this seems to be a matching exercise between two sets.

Let’s organize all four boxes clearly.

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✔ Full Matching Exercise

We’ll identify homophones across the four boxes.

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#### 🔷 Box 1: Pink Box (Left) → Green Box (Right)

| Word (Pink) | Homophone (Green) | Explanation |
|-------------|--------------------|-----------|
| accept | except | Same sound /əkˈsept/, different meanings |
| affect | effect | Often confused; both pronounced /əˈfekt/ and /ɪˈfekt/ respectively — near homophones |
| ball | bawl | /bɔːl/ — “ball” = sphere, “bawl” = cry loudly |
| berry | bury | /ˈberi/ — “berry” = fruit, “bury” = hide or inter |
| brake | break | /breɪk/ — “brake” = stopping device, “break” = pause or damage |

Now look at the green box on the right:
- fair
- grate
- groan
- here
- heel
- hear
- heal
- great
- fare
- grown

Wait — we don’t see “bawl”, “break”, etc., in this green box. So maybe the pairing is within the boxes?

Actually, looking again:

There are four boxes:

1. Top-left (Pink): accept, affect, ball, berry, brake, bawl, break, effect, bury
→ This appears to be one list of words, possibly for matching.

2. Top-right (Green): fair, grate, groan, here, heel, hear, heal, great, fare, grown

3. Bottom-left (Green): knot, mail, main, meat, medal, meddle, mane, meet, male, not

4. Bottom-right (Pink): missed, peace, plain, rain, scene, piece, mist, reign, seen, plane

And the instruction says: "Match the homophone to the word given."

But there’s already a line drawn from accept → except, which is correct.

So likely, the task is to match each word in the left-side lists with its homophone in the right-side lists.

Let’s reorganize.

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🔄 Step-by-step Matching

We will group homophones based on sound.

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#### ✔ 1. accept → except
- Already matched ✔️
- Pronunciation: /əkˈsept/

#### ✔ 2. affect → effect
- Both pronounced /əˈfekt/ (though “effect” can also be /ɪˈfekt/) — near homophones
- “Affect” = to influence; “Effect” = result

#### ✔ 3. ball → bawl
- /bɔːl/ — “ball” = round object; “bawl” = cry loudly

#### ✔ 4. berry → bury
- /ˈberi/ — “berry” = fruit; “bury” = to inter

#### ✔ 5. brake → break
- /breɪk/ — “brake” = car part; “break” = pause or fracture

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Now, let’s look at the top-right green box:
- fair
- grate
- groan
- here
- heel
- hear
- heal
- great
- fare
- grown

Which ones are homophones?

Let’s find matches:

#### ✔ 6. hear → here
- /hɪər/ — “hear” = listen; “here” = this place

#### ✔ 7. heal → heel
- /hiːl/ — “heal” = recover; “heel” = back of foot

#### ✔ 8. great → grate
- /ɡreɪt/ — “great” = wonderful; “grate” = scratch or grater

#### ✔ 9. fare → fair
- /feər/ — “fare” = price of travel; “fair” = just or light-colored

#### ✔ 10. grown → groan
- /ɡroʊn/ — “grown” = past tense of grow; “groan” = moan

Wait — “grown” is past participle of “grow”, pronounced /ɡroʊn/, same as “groan”.

So yes: grown ↔ groan

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Now bottom-left green box:
- knot, mail, main, meat, medal, meddle, mane, meet, male, not

Look for homophones:

#### ✔ 11. knot → not
- /nɒt/ — “knot” = tied loop; “not” = negation

#### ✔ 12. mail → male
- /meɪl/ — “mail” = letters; “male” = man

#### ✔ 13. main → mane
- /meɪn/ — “main” = primary; “mane” = horse’s hair

#### ✔ 14. meat → meet
- /miːt/ — “meat” = food; “meet” = encounter

#### ✔ 15. medal → meddle
- /ˈmedl/ — “medal” = award; “meddle” = interfere — not exact homophones, but close

Wait — “medal” is /ˈmedl/, “meddle” is /ˈmedl/ — same pronunciation!

Yes! So medal ↔ meddle

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Bottom-right pink box:
- missed, peace, plain, rain, scene, piece, mist, reign, seen, plane

Find homophones:

#### ✔ 16. missed → misted? No — “mist” is listed.

Wait: missed → misted? Not in list.

But missed → seen? No.

Wait — missed → misted? Not here.

But peace → piece
- /piːs/ — “peace” = calm; “piece” = part

✔ peace ↔ piece

#### ✔ 17. plain → plane
- /pleɪn/ — “plain” = simple or flat land; “plane” = airplane

#### ✔ 18. rain → reign
- /reɪn/ — “rain” = water from sky; “reign” = rule

#### ✔ 19. scene → seen
- /siːn/ — “scene” = view; “seen” = past of see

#### ✔ 20. mist → missed
- /mɪst/ — “mist” = fog; “missed” = past of miss — both pronounced /mɪst/?

Wait — “missed” is usually /mɪst/, “mist” is /mɪst/ — yes, they are homophones!

✔ mist ↔ missed

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✔ Final Complete Matching List

| Word | Homophone | Meaning Difference |
|------|----------|---------------------|
| accept | except | to receive vs. not including |
| affect | effect | to influence vs. result |
| ball | bawl | round object vs. cry loudly |
| berry | bury | fruit vs. inter |
| brake | break | car part vs. pause/damage |
| hear | here | listen vs. this place |
| heal | heel | recover vs. back of foot |
| great | grate | wonderful vs. scratcher |
| fare | fair | cost of travel vs. just or light |
| grown | groan | past of grow vs. moan |
| knot | not | tied loop vs. negation |
| mail | male | letters vs. man |
| main | mane | primary vs. horse's hair |
| meat | meet | food vs. encounter |
| medal | meddle | award vs. interfere |
| peace | piece | calm vs. part |
| plain | plane | simple vs. aircraft |
| rain | reign | water vs. rule |
| scene | seen | view vs. past of see |
| mist | missed | fog vs. past of miss |

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✔ Answer Key (Matching Pairs)

1. accept → except
2. affect → effect
3. ball → bawl
4. berry → bury
5. brake → break
6. hear → here
7. heal → heel
8. great → grate
9. fare → fair
10. grown → groan
11. knot → not
12. mail → male
13. main → mane
14. meat → meet
15. medal → meddle
16. peace → piece
17. plain → plane
18. rain → reign
19. scene → seen
20. mist → missed

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📝 Explanation

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. For example:
- "bear" (animal) and "bare" (naked) — same sound, different spelling and meaning.

Near homophones are words that sound very similar but not identical, often due to slight differences in stress or pronunciation.

In this worksheet, students learn to distinguish between such pairs by understanding context and spelling.

This skill helps improve reading comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary.

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✔ Final Answer: The correct matches are listed above. Students should draw lines connecting each word to its homophone/near homophone as shown.