Help your students become familiar with the meanings and spellings of common homophones with this set of 36 differentiated matching cards.
Explore the Definitions of Common Homophones
Homophones would have to be some of the most troublesome words in the English language! These tricky little words sound the same when spoken but have different meanings and spellings. No wonder they are commonly misspelled or misused in our students’ writing!
Enter Teach Starter’s matching game for homophones! This hands-on matching game has been created by our expert teachers to support the teaching of homophones in the 3rd and 4th grades. Students must match homophones (used in the context of sentences) with their correct definitions in order to keep a pair. For example:
Sentence: I went to the store to buy some bread.
Definition: To purchase something.
Two differentiated versions of the definition cards are provided. One version has an image in addition to the written definition to provide a visual cue for students who may need a little more scaffolding. The second version provides the written definition only.
The following homophones are included in the resource: Buy/bye, hair/hare, no/know, knot/not, new/knew, hear/here, tail/tale, flour/flower, stairs/stares.
Download the full-color PDF, or if you’d like to make any personal alterations to the resource, an editable Google Slides version is also available.
This resource would make a great partner or small group activity. Alternatively, you could complete the activity as a whole class as a lesson warm-up or lesson wrap-up.
Alternate Uses for This Homophones Activity
These versatile homophones cards can be used in a variety of different ways in your classroom. Why not try some of the following suggestions:
- Find Your Match – Provide each student with a sentence card or a definition card. Have students stand up and circulate around the room to find their match. Once they have found their partner, they must sit down. Add an extra challenge by making the students do this in silence! (Tip: Be sure you have the correct number of matching cards to distribute to the students before conducting this activity.)
- Snap – Have small groups of students evenly distribute the cards among themselves, then use them to play a game of Snap. A matching sentence card with the correct definition card forms a pair.
- Homophones Story – Have students write their own short story using all of the homophones from the matching game. Swap with a partner, then have them highlight all the homophones.
Download and Use This Homophones Matching Game
Use the dropdown menu next to the Download button above to access either the easy-print PDF or the Google Slides version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template before accessing it).
Print on cardstock for increased durability. Place the cards together in a large envelope or ziplock bag for easy storage.
As this resource contains a title page and an answer sheet, we recommended printing one copy of the resource, removing the title and answer page, then making copies as required.
This resource was created by Kendall Britnell, a teacher in Colorado and a Teach Starter collaborator.
More Activities to Explore Homophones
Looking to liven up your lessons on homophones? Click below to explore more curriculum-aligned, teacher-created resources!
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