There, their, they’re

Your, you’re

Here, hear

We, wee

Add, ad

Tea, tee

Ate, eight

Seas, sees, seize

Mall, maul

Awl, all

Aye, eye, I

Flair, flare

Lone, loan

Sail, sale

Stair, stare

Minor, miner

Tacks, tax

Tale, tail

Heel, heal, he’ll

Hymn, him

Heroin, heroine

Sole, soul

Write, right, rite

Medal, Metal, Meddle

Seam, seem

The list goes on and on. The mistakes people make with them seems endless too.

If you simply rely on your computer’s spell checker to edit your work, then you are most likely making quite a few mistakes in your writing. You cannot trust your spell checker as the sole editor for your writing. You need to look at the words you have written and make sure they are used in their proper context. Sometimes it is a good idea to print out your work and look at it on paper. Read your content in reverse. It gives you a different perspective than simply staring at your screen. This forces you to look at each word, giving you a chance to check its spelling along with its placement and usage. Just because all of the words are spelled correctly doesn’t mean that your writing is properly formatted. Make sure you are using the correct word! As an example, there is a huge difference in the words ‘their’ and ‘they’re.’ It’s a simple mistake, yet it can alter the context of your writing immensely.

The English language is quirky. It’s easy to mess it up. Homophones are a common problem for many people. Hopefully these easy suggestions will help you avoid a few of the potential pitfalls that surround word selection and usage. Of course, it’s always wise to seek the assistance of a good proofreader to review your content too (ahem…hint, hint).

If you feel like adding more homophones to the list, please feel free to list them in the comments. I think it would be fun to create a very large, encompassing list.

**Update:

Canon, Cannon (see this post: http://www.mcwriters.com/2008/06/18/i-found-another-bad-sign/).