Avoid EMBARRASSING Mistakes in English STOP Confusing These Words

Hello and welcome back to English with Lucy. Do not mix up these words. These are words that sound the same but mean totally different things. They are called homophones and when we mix them up it can lead to some hilarious misunderstandings. So let's make sure that you never confuse again. And if you really want to sort out your aisles from your aisles you are going to need the pdf that goes with this lesson. I've made it for you for free. It contains all of the information in this video plus five extra pairs of confusing homophones and a link to some secret exercises so you can practice what you've learned and make sure that you understand and remember them all. To download that for free just click on the link in the description box or you can scan that QR code there. You join my mailing list and the pdf will arrive directly in your inbox. Let's begin. What comes to mind when you hear this? She woke up feeling a little hoarse after the concert. Now did you picture a person touching a small horse as in the animal we can ride? I don't blame you but it's more likely that she felt hoarse with an a. If you feel hoarse or you are hoarse it means you have a rough or strained voice often because you've been shouting or you have a sore throat. With homophones we often have to go off context. Horse as in sore throat is much more likely after a concert. Next listen to this sentence and decide how you think I might start my day. I always start my mornings with the same serial drama. So I said serial which is the One is spelt c-e-r-e-a-l and that is the food some people eat with milk for breakfast like cornflakes. The other is spelt s-e-r-i-a-l and it describes something that's published or broadcast in several parts. The Crown and Peaky Blinders are serial dramas. We just call them series now. So do I begin every day with some sort of excitement over breakfast cereal or by watching an episode of a drama? Well that's for me to know and you to just imagine. So our next two homophones are p as in a small round green vegetable and p which is slang for urine. Liquid waste from the Hopefully not too yellow. You might need to hydrate yourself if it is. So which springs to mind when you hear this sentence? The dog left a little p by the door. It could technically be either right? In the case of my dog Diego it could be the vegetable. He never goes to the bathroom inside. When he was a puppy let's just say that accidents did happen. Okay moving on. If someone tells you there's a leak in the kitchen should you panic? Maybe. It all depends on whether they're talking about the long green and white vegetable related to the onion. It is spelt with a double e l e e k. That's a perfectly normal thing to find in the kitchen but a leak spelt l e a k that's something to worry about. This kind of leak is a small hole or crack that lets liquid or gas escape. Notice that the words are pronounced with the long e sound. Leak. Leak. Not the short if sound. Lick. You could have a lick in the kitchen. It would hopefully be cake batter. Next up let's test you. Native speakers included. I know some of you watch my videos. You're very welcome here. Which spelling of the word aisle do I probably need here? Come to the biscuit aisle. Is it i s l e or a i s l e? Well the second spelling is the most likely. It's not impossible that it would be i s l e but the second spelling is most likely. In this sentence it most likely refers to the passage between shelves in a shop. So imagine that I'm calling out to my husband to come over and check out some tasty biscuits. Aisle i s l e is another word for island. Now remember that in island aisle and aisle all spellings just mentioned the s is silent. An island made of biscuits sounds like heaven but as far as I know it doesn't yet exist. There is a place called the South Sandwich Islands though. Now do you know that there's another word that's a homophone for aisle and aisle? Well it's aisle obviously spelled i apostrophe l l and that's the contraction of I will. All right next homophones. Listen and form a picture in your mind of what I'm saying. That's a bear-faced lie. Did you picture a bear, the animal, telling a lie? Well that's what I always thought it meant when I was little. But bear-faced means open and not ashamed. Your face is bare. It's open for everyone to see. A bear-faced lie is a deliberate and shameless lie told without any attempt to hide the fact that it's untrue. It's got nothing to do with bears the animal. Spelt b e a r. So b a r e bear can mean not covered by anything which is probably the meaning this word developed from. You also might know the phrase the bear necessities meaning the basic necessities. It's a title of a song in the film The Jungle Book and was sung by Baloo who is a bear. I love a good pun. Now let's stick with our bears for this next one. This is tricky. What do you imagine when you hear this sentence? I think that's a bear but I'm not sure. Okay. What do you think I mean? So there's a lot going on in this sentence. We have two sets of homophones bear and but. Now first there's bear b e a r as in the animal but also bear b a r e meaning without clothes. And then there's but which introduces a contrast like however. But with a double t b u t t is the part of your body that you sit on. I'm sitting on mine right now. But is more common in American English bum or bottom in British English. So how will you ever know what I saw? Well you'll have to listen closely to my stress and intonation. I think that's a bear but I'm not sure. My voice goes up slightly on bear. I pause slightly and then I continue. If I say I think that's a bear but I'm not sure. I say bear but together quickly with no pause then I pause and I continue. In this context it could be a bear's bum or maybe I've spotted someone's naked bum. This might seem ridiculous but playing with words like this wordplay forms a huge part of British comedy. Okay let's move on from body parts now. Listen to this sentence. What is the problem that I need to address? We need to address the whole issue. Okay so I might have a problem with a whole as in an empty space in a solid surface like this. In this case we would often put more emphasis on whole. We need to address the whole issue. Or I might want to address the entire or complete issue that's spelt with a silent w at the beginning w-h-o-l-e. In this case I might put more emphasis on issue. We need to address the whole issue. Okay our final pair of homophones. What do you imagine when you hear this sentence? He pulled a hair out of his hat. Was it a hair? H-a-i-r. The thin threads that grow on a person's head. Or did you imagine a magician pulling an animal like a big rabbit called a hare out of a hat? In that case the spelling would be h-a-r-e. Both work. I guess the second is more likely if you're doing a magic show. Okay now it's time for a quiz. I'm really interested to see how much you've learnt. So keep score and let me know in the comments. Number one. When I go camping I only pack the bare necessities. Coffee and chocolate. B-a-r-e or b-a-r. It's b-a-r-e. The bare necessities meaning the basic essentials. Two. She read the whole book in one day. Is it whole with a w or without? It's more likely to be whole starting with a w as in complete or entire. Unless it's a book about holes. I did read a book called holes once. It was quite good. I guess either could be correct there. Number three. That new cereal you bought is delicious. Is it cereal starting with c or cereal beginning with s? It should be c-e-r-e-a-l as in breakfast cereal. Four. I just saw a huge hare running across the field. Which spelling should we use here? It should be h-a-r-e like a large rabbit. Not h-a-i-r like the hair on your head. And finally number five. We spent our honeymoon on a deserted isle. How should you spell isle? Well hopefully you said i-s-l-e as in island. If you said a-i-s-l-e then they spent their honeymoon in a supermarket or on the passageway going down a church. A deserted one. That would be depressing. So what was your score out of five? Let me know in the comments and tell me which other homophones you find confusing because I might put them in a future video. And don't forget to download the pdf that goes with this video. You can click on the link in the description box or scan the QR code there. I will see you soon for another lesson.