Homophones: words that sound the same
Tests: 5 of 10 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 8 of 14 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 27 of the language course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · right ✓
Your mate goes "homophones are just the same word, innit, spell 'em how u like." What's true?
- 1. They have different meanings, so spelling matters — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. They're only found in very old books — no support
- 3. Only teachers care about meaning — no support
- 4. He's right, any spelling works as long as it sounds right — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · right ✓
Your little cousin writes "the herd of cows" and her friend says it should be "heard". Who's right?
- 1. Your cousin, a herd is a group of animals — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. The friend, it's always spelled "heard" whatever it means — no support
- 3. Both spellings mean animals — no support
- 4. Neither, it's "hurd" — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 27, line 10: «"Heard" is the past of hear; "herd" is a group of animals like cows; "heard" has "ear" in it.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same thing acted on «group» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: the same doer «herd» (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · right ✓
Ivy's mate from Edinburgh says "aye, which and witch are no the same tae me." ("Aye" means yes, "no" here means not, "tae" means to.) What's true?
- 1. Many Scots really say them differently — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. She's putting on an act to sound more Scottish — no support
- 3. They sound the same everywhere — no support
- 4. Scottish accents are wrong — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · wrong ✗
What would happen if a shop sign said "Stationary for sale"?
- 1. It would say "standing still for sale", a funny mistake — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. It would mean the shop is closed — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 3. It would mean pens are free — score 4
- 4. Nothing, both spellings are fine — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 25, line 3: «Every language has idioms, and they sound mad when translated word for word: a Ukrainian gran says "вішати локшину на вуха", "to hang noodles on someone's ears…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «mean» (+4). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · wrong ✗
A Gen Alpha kid writes "the lion hunted its pray, no cap." ("No cap" means for real.) What's the spelling mistake?
- 1. Nothing, "pray" is right — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. "Its" should be "it's", with an apostrophe — no support
- 3. It should be "prey", a hunted animal — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. It should be "pree" — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · right ✓
Your dad says "bear and bare are one word with two spellings." What's true?
- 1. He's right, they're one word — score 4
- 2. "Bear" is only the animal — no support
- 3. "Bare" is the American spelling of the British "bear" — no support
- 4. They are different words with different meanings — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 27, line 6: «Homophones are words with the same sound but a different meaning and often a different spelling: knight and night, sea and see, son and sun, write and right.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same thing acted on «words» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · wrong ✗
In a cartoon a knight rides at night, and the speech bubble says "Good nite, Sir Night!" What's wrong?
- 1. Knights can't ride at night — ← Mova's choice · score 1
- 2. The knight's title should be spelled "Knight" — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Nothing, it's all spelled correctly — no support
- 4. "Sir" should be "Sur" — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 27, line 2: «Ava reads "The knight rode at night" and frowns: out loud the two words are twins, but on paper they wear different clothes, and the meaning tells you which on…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «ride» (+3); the same doer «knight» (+2); the same property (+2). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-6). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · wrong ✗
Your Aussie mate texts "gonna by heaps of lollies this arvo." ("Arvo" means afternoon, "lollies" means sweets.) What word should be "buy"?
- 1. Gonna — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Heaps — no support
- 3. By — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Lollies — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · wrong ✗
Tom says there can only be two homophones for one sound. Which shows he's wrong?
- 1. Knight and day — score 0
- 2. Write, right, rite and wright — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Cat and hat — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 4. Sun and moon — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 5, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 25, line 3: «Every language has idioms, and they sound mad when translated word for word: a Ukrainian gran says "вішати локшину на вуха", "to hang noodles on someone's ears…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «cats» (+3). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · right ✓
Which memory hook helps with "heard"?
- 1. Heard has "earth" in it — no support
- 2. Herd has an "h" for hearing — no support
- 3. Heard rhymes with bird, and birds sing so you hear them — no support
- 4. You hear with your ear, and heard has "ear" in it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 27, line 10: «"Heard" is the past of hear; "herd" is a group of animals like cows; "heard" has "ear" in it.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2); the same thing acted on «ear» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises homophones?
- 1. Words of opposite meaning — no support
- 2. Words identical in pronunciation but differing in meaning and frequently in spelling — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Words identical in spelling and meaning — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 4. Words borrowed unaltered from French — score 7
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 7, line 1: «English has four kinds of sentence: a statement tells (The cake is huge.), a question asks (What is that cake?), a command tells someone to do something (Eat t…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «english» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗
Identify the correct form in the sentence "The lion seized its ___."
- 1. Pree — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Pray — no support
- 3. Prey — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. Preigh — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the words "which" and "witch".
- 1. They are pronounced identically by most speakers but distinctly by many in Scotland and Ireland — ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 2. The distinction is regarded as an error — no support
- 3. They are pronounced identically in every accent of English, without any exception whatsoever — ← Mova's choice · score 4
- 4. They are pronounced distinctly in every accent of English — score 4
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 18, line 6: «An accent is the way people pronounce words; a dialect is a local way of speaking with its own words and grammar.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «pronounce» (+3); the same thing acted on «words» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
Ascertain which word denotes writing materials such as paper and envelopes.
- 1. Stationery — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Stationary — no support
- 3. Statutory — no support
- 4. Stationed — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/27-homophones-words-that-sound-the-same/