SEAGReady
SpellingP6 level15 questions in the full course

Homophones and Confusable WordsSEAG Practice Questions

Using sentence meaning and grammatical function to choose among homophones and similar-sounding words: there/their/they're, your/you're, where/were/wear, to/too/two, hear/here, and the standard UK noun/verb pair practice/practise.

Where your child meets this in real life: Proofreading messages, stories and school work where the wrong real word can change or disrupt the meaning, using the same whole-sentence checking demanded by the official SEAG spelling exercise

What your child needs to know

SEAGReady breaks homophones and confusable words into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.

  1. 1

    Contraction Homophones

    Proofread they're/their/there and you're/your by expanding possible contractions and then checking whether the sentence needs a contraction, a possessive determiner, a place reference or an existence construction.

  2. 2

    Everyday Homophones

    Proofread the everyday confusable sets where/were/wear, to/too/two and hear/here by identifying the meaning and grammatical function required by the complete sentence.

  3. 3

    Practice or Practise

    Choose practice for the noun and practise for the verb in standard UK English by using determiners, possessives, subjects, infinitive to and auxiliary verbs as grammatical evidence.

Try these SEAG-style questions

Three free sample questions from our homophones and confusable words course. Every question comes with a full explanation, and hints that guide without giving the answer away.

Question 1Confidence builder
Which section contains the spelling mistake?
Sentence divided into sections A to D

Section AAt their stopSection Bthe coach asked whetherSection Cwe'd remembered to checkSection Dyou're tickets.

Choose A, B, C or D for the section with the mistake. Choose N if all four sections are correct in standard UK English.

Question 2Confidence builder
Which section contains the spelling mistake?
Sentence divided into sections A to D

Section AWe were shownSection Bthe quiet hideSection Cwere we could hearSection Dtwo nesting birds.

Choose A, B, C or D for the section with the mistake. Choose N if all four sections are correct in standard UK English.

Question 3Confidence builder
Which section contains the spelling mistake?
Sentence divided into sections A to D

Section ANetball practiseSection Bbegins at fourSection Cin the sports hallSection Dbeside the library.

Choose A, B, C or D for the section with the mistake. Choose N if all four sections are correct in standard UK English.

Try the lesson: Contraction Homophones

This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.

Matthew writes: "Their coming to watch the match with us on Saturday."

Is 'Their' correct here, or should it be 'There' or 'They're'?

Test the contraction meaning
1

Replace the uncertain word with 'they are': 'They are coming to watch the match.'

Step 1 of 6

Prefer to read? See every step written out

Matthew writes: "Their coming to watch the match with us on Saturday."

Is 'Their' correct here, or should it be 'There' or 'They're'?

  1. 1

    Test the contraction meaning

    • Replace the uncertain word with 'they are': 'They are coming to watch the match.'
    • The complete sentence remains grammatical and keeps the intended meaning, so the contraction is a valid match.
  2. 2

    Rule out the other meanings

    • 'Their coming …' could begin a noun phrase in a different sentence, but it does not supply the main verb needed here. The intended complete clause is 'They are coming'.
    • 'There' can refer to a place or introduce existence, but neither meaning supplies the subject 'they are' needed here.
  3. 3

    Proofread the corrected sentence

    • Write 'They're coming to watch the match with us on Saturday.'
    • Expand it once more to confirm: 'They are coming to watch the match with us on Saturday.'

It should be "They're coming to watch the match", because "they are coming" makes sense.

The key insight: Expansion proves a contraction only when the complete two-word phrase fits the grammar and meaning of the whole sentence.

Common mix-up: your welcome. Replace the uncertain form with 'you are': 'You are welcome' is complete and meaningful, so the contraction is 'you're'. 'Your' is used before a noun, as in 'your school bag'.

Mistakes to watch for

These are the misconceptions we see most often in homophones and confusable words, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.

  • Assuming a spellchecker will always catch a correctly spelled word used with the wrong meaning
  • Using their/there/they're interchangeably
  • Writing 'your welcome' instead of 'you're welcome'
  • Treating practice and practise as interchangeable in standard UK English without checking whether the word is a noun or verb
  • Choosing a word because it sounds right without checking its meaning and grammatical job in the whole sentence

More spelling practice

Common Spelling RulesTricky and Irregular SpellingsBritish Spelling ConventionsProofreading for Spelling
15 questions on this topic alone

Master homophones and confusable words and everything it unlocks

SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.

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