Homophones and Confusables

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. They are one of the most common sources of errors in writing, and they are frequently tested in the SET Stage 1 comprehension paper. Getting these right also strengthens your Stage 2 extended writing. This lesson covers the homophones and confusable words you are most likely to encounter in the Sutton Selective Eligibility Test.

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The Big Three: There, Their, They're

These three words cause more mistakes than almost any others. Learn them carefully:

Word	Meaning	Example
there	A place, or used to introduce a sentence	Put it over there. There is a cat on the wall.
their	Belonging to them (possessive)	Their house is on the corner.
they're	Short for "they are" (contraction)	They're coming to the party tonight.

Test trick: If you can replace the word with "they are" and the sentence still makes sense, use they're. If it shows ownership, use their. Otherwise, use there.

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To, Too, Two