Words with similar pronunciation and spelling but different meaning

Bear vs. Bare

 Another one that’s also commonly confused is bear and bare okay so a bear is probably most of you know it is an animal, it’s an oso and a bear is spelt BEAR however bear which is also like there’s nudo or something that is very sparse so for example if you have no food in your cupboard you could say my cupboards are bare and that is BA RE so bearing means that something is very sparsely populated or there’s nothing covering it okay so very different from the animal bear but those two words sound exactly the same as well.

Fair vs. Fare

The next one is FAIR and FARE, okay so fair is the adjective you know to be fair justo and it’s FAIR okay so and you know if it’s fair our trade fair as a noun at the trade fair that those are and that those are similar in in in pronunciation to fear like the train fare know your train fare is that the fee or the money that you pay to purchase a ticket to ride on the train so train fare would be FARE so very different in meaning but exactly the same pronunciation.

Hair vs. Hare

Now the next ones are very commonly confused well the exact same sound hair and hare. So, hair as most people would think of is what we have on our head, so el pelo is HAIR however it has the exact same pronunciation as HARE, which is in fact are an animal it’s like a large rabbit okay it’s very similar to a rabbit that little bit larger okay and are often hunted in the forest so hare is different from hair that we have on our head.

Pear vs. Pair

Then you got the fruit PEAR which is PEAR una pera and that is different from una pareja, una pareja is PAIR, so the fruit and as a noun have exactly the same pronunciation pear and pair okay, so a little bit confusing.

Piece vs. Peace

The next one is piece and peace okay? So, a piece of chocolate cake is un trozo and also peace is PEACE la paz so we have piece and peace with exactly the same spelling however, sorry exactly the same pronunciation but completely different spelling so that’s also commonly confused.

Practice vs. Practise

So, the next is also very commonly confused especially by native people and often is very difficult to detect it when you are making this mistake because of the spelling, it is very similar and the pronunciation is exactly the same, so when we refer to practice the noun which is to practice, football practice which is entrenamiento then it’s PRACTICE. So, practice and when we want to talk about the verb so to practice something then the spelling is almost the same but it finishes differently PRACTISE. Okay so that’s a very common mistake you got practise and practice at football practice and to practice playing the piano so one is a noun one is a verb.

Stair vs. Stare

Another one that is also commonly confused stair and stare, stairs as most people would imagine is what we climb, climb stairs so las escaleras so stair is STAIR however the, the verb is pronounced exactly the same as you got the verb to stare which is fijar en algo and that is STARE okay so to stair and ehm... those two can be confused a little as well because the pronunciation is exactly the same.

Their vs. There

Another one this one is that the second last one for today’s episode, however this pair of words are very commonly confused as well and you have got the word their and there okay so their was a possessive adjective so their car is spelt THEIR however you’ve also got THERE which is for example over there allá or there is a car hay un coche so there is spelt THERE so they both have exactly the same pronunciation however ahm... they are spelt differently and honestly have different meanings.

Weather vs. Whether

The last one for today’s episode is weather and whether so you’ve got weather, which is el tiempo today there is really nice weather whereas you’ve also got whether which is like if. "I’m not sure whether I will go to the party.", which is similar to, "I’m not sure if I will go to the party.", and that is actually spelt WHETHER so very similar practically the same the pronunciation but the meaning is completely different again so those are some very commonly confused words that I want to share with you guys because you know sometimes at the level of pronunciation it is very difficult to know which one people are referring to obviously most things are context and I also want to share with you because when you’re writing many, many people make mistakes with their writing with these types of words so if you do have any questions regarding these types words then please let me known. I’ll be more than happy to help you.

Final Thoughts

That’s basically all I have time for today. Hope you loving the content this year. I hope you’re enjoying what we have been providing for you since January 2019, basically I'm having a great time, been working on a lot of stuff. I’ve been trying to provide as much valuable content as possible but if you do have anything that you would like me to specifically work on or explain for you then please send me an email. You can do that by sending an email to aobe @ theartofbusinessenglish.com and I will be more than happy to work on putting together some content for you making sure that you guys get exactly what you need.

Okay well that’s pretty much all we have time for today if you would like to watch the video obviously you can at our website and I will be putting that up soon and also you know if you guys would like to improve your vocabulary and your collocations then please feel free to grab a copy of our 500 business English collocations for everyday use it’s a fantastic book with the pronunciation accompanying that so you know it’s sort of like an e-book as well as an audiobook that you can listen to which will help you to improve your pronunciation. Well my friends as always I hope you have a great week that’s all I have time for you today and I look forward to hearing your comments and getting feedback so take care- by for now.

 Bonus content

WORDS WITH SIMILAR SPELLING BUT DIFFERENT MEANINGS

 Altogether – completely

All together – A group of things or people in one place

Effect – bring about/make (v); result (noun)

Affect – have an effect on

Lose – fail to have or find

Loose – not tight

Specially – for a special purpose

Especially – particularly

Stationery – paper, envelopes, etc.

Stationary – not moving (used formally of vehicles)

Principle – general truth or standard

Principal – head of college or school

WORDS WITH SAME PRONUNCIATION BUT DIFFERENT SPELLING & MEANING

Allowed-aloud

Bear-bare

Fair-fare

Hair-hare

Pear-pair

Piece-peace

Practice (n) – practise (v)

Stair-stare

Their-there

Weather-whether