What happens when a frog's car breaks down? It gets toad away. If you're like me and laughed at this joke more than you probably should have, you know that words are fun. Bruce Worden, the man behind a blog called Homophones, Weakly, also shares this opinion. Like you might have already guessed, he's into homophones (each of two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling). In fact, Bruce likes them so much, he's even visualizing them!
Poking fun at the English language, Bruce uses minimalistic illustrations to prove that we just have to listen. For without context we couldn't know if someone is inviting us to a sail or sale. Scroll down for the images and upvote your favorites! Also, be sure to check out our list of the 20+ 'Same' Things That Most People Don’t Know Are Actually Different, too!
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That Reminds me this funny video about an Italian that went to Malta :) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAFQFvSPhQ8
That's why the auto-pilot cars keeps crashing.. Stupid autocorrect 😀
They're not pronounced differently, the first one is showing someone being deserted - as in abandoned, on an island. That is pronounced the same as dessert that you eat. I believe you're thinking of desert as in - the place where all the sand is, like for example, the Sahara desert.
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Two S’s in dessert because you would want to eat two and one S in desert because you would only want to walk across it once!
When it’s a dessert, there’s Strawberry Shortcake (2 Ss)...when it’s a desert, there’s just Sand (1 S)
The couple make a smile: their heads are the eyes, their hands are the mouth, and the heart is the nose!
Depends where you live. I say tomato ketchup, but not tomato catch up.
I wonder how many people under say 25, know what the second is a picture of?
Note: this post originally had 259 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
These should be in every grade school classroom. Maybe then we could raise a generation of people that could differentiate between Their, There and They're! Also, we need one for Your and You're!
I've seen plenty of 30+ who can't spell them right either. So pretty sure it is just confusing for everyone equally.
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Too many comments of, "That's not how you say it!" No, that may not be how *you* say it, but it's how lots of other people say it. As for regional differences, these as illustrated are all indicative of common standard US English usage. In any other English-speaking locale, YMMV.
I went through this whole list waiting for Wonder / Wander and it never came
You were wandering through this list? No wonder you didn't fins them.
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My favourite one is from the TV show "Undateable" , where the bar they went to was called black eye but some use to think they meant black guy. 😂
You totally forgot the most important pair of confusing words: us and a*s! Imagine: 'this was a very important moment for us'. Or 'all I can think about is us...'. Also worth remembering the famous song 'Us and them'. And so on... I wonder how an illustration by Bruce would look like!
Some aren't so simple as the English and American versions aren't always pronounced the same way. Then, in the UK you get a lot of regional variations - don't know if it's the same for America or not.
Absolutely the same in America, we have regional dialects and use different pronunciations within just a few miles of one another. Then there's Tangier Island...just look it up.
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the reason for 'silent' letters in most cases is to clarify and make easier the written word, you wouldn't think of a pointy hatted, wart nosed woman if someone said to you 'which way are you going', but because language grew and similar sounding words would often mean different things, the spellings of them needed to become more creative.
Yep! Additionally, English words had different pronunciations throughout the centuries, but the written language is slower to catch up.
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Way too many double meaning words in the English Language it is way too confusing.
If you are working with people from a French speaking country, the word "Sheet" will also get another meaning. I can not write it here though.
S**t? No, they both look and sound different. Correct me if you were thinking of something else.
Load More Replies... These should be in every grade school classroom. Maybe then we could raise a generation of people that could differentiate between Their, There and They're! Also, we need one for Your and You're!
I've seen plenty of 30+ who can't spell them right either. So pretty sure it is just confusing for everyone equally.
Load More Replies... Too many comments of, "That's not how you say it!" No, that may not be how *you* say it, but it's how lots of other people say it. As for regional differences, these as illustrated are all indicative of common standard US English usage. In any other English-speaking locale, YMMV.
I went through this whole list waiting for Wonder / Wander and it never came
You were wandering through this list? No wonder you didn't fins them.
Load More Replies... My favourite one is from the TV show "Undateable" , where the bar they went to was called black eye but some use to think they meant black guy. 😂
You totally forgot the most important pair of confusing words: us and a*s! Imagine: 'this was a very important moment for us'. Or 'all I can think about is us...'. Also worth remembering the famous song 'Us and them'. And so on... I wonder how an illustration by Bruce would look like!
Some aren't so simple as the English and American versions aren't always pronounced the same way. Then, in the UK you get a lot of regional variations - don't know if it's the same for America or not.
Absolutely the same in America, we have regional dialects and use different pronunciations within just a few miles of one another. Then there's Tangier Island...just look it up.
Load More Replies... the reason for 'silent' letters in most cases is to clarify and make easier the written word, you wouldn't think of a pointy hatted, wart nosed woman if someone said to you 'which way are you going', but because language grew and similar sounding words would often mean different things, the spellings of them needed to become more creative.
Yep! Additionally, English words had different pronunciations throughout the centuries, but the written language is slower to catch up.
Load More Replies... Way too many double meaning words in the English Language it is way too confusing.
If you are working with people from a French speaking country, the word "Sheet" will also get another meaning. I can not write it here though.
S**t? No, they both look and sound different. Correct me if you were thinking of something else.
Load More Replies...