Me, Rhonda and the Kids

Warren has turned into a spelling machine -- it's become one of his favorite activities.  As the kids were decorating their Gingerbread houses, Rhonda and I took turns giving him simple words to spell. 

Hey -- he's only six...so we were doing a lot of 3 letter words...but it was pretty impressive. 

Lilly was focused on her Gingerbread house...but, of course, she was intently listening...waiting for him to make a mistake.

I gave Warren the three letter word, "two".  Warren spelled it correctly.

But then, Lilly said, "there are other ways to spell that word."

It could be "too....or, even to...."

That's true, of course.  And not so remarkable...

Then, Lilly said, "when two words are pronounced the same, but they have different meanings, it's called a homophone".

I do NOT remember learning that particular term...but maybe Lilly was right....Rhonda must have felt the same way -- because and we looked at each other, exchanged raised eyebrows, and laughed uncomfortably...

Without looking away from her frosting job,  Lilly said, "that's okay.  It was an awkward moment in class, too..."

According to Webster:  Homophone:  a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. A homophone may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose, or differently, such as carat, and carrot, or to, two, and too.