Vocabulary Match
Grow your English vocabulary with a free, browser-based matching game. See a word, pick its correct meaning, and build retention through play.
WordsHomophones
Homophones sound identical and mean different things, which is why spell-check never flags them. Below: the pairs that account for most errors, and the substitution test that settles them in one second.
Choose your difficulty
Pick a level to start playing. You can switch at any time.
How to play
Read the sentence, then tap the word that fits the blank.
Tip: your progress and best score are saved in this browser only.
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WordsWhat you are actually practicing
Homophones sound identical and mean different things. That is exactly why spell-check never catches them: the spelling is right, the word is wrong. Their, there and they're are all correctly spelled and only one fits any given sentence.
This game puts them in sentences, because the sentence — not the word — is what decides.
How the game works
You are shown a sentence with one blank and four words. Pick the word that fits. A wrong pick reveals the right one immediately, with the sentence intact.
Easy covers the highest-frequency sets. Medium widens the pool. Hard uses the full list, including the pairs that even careful writers double-check.
The pairs worth knowing
their / there / they're: possession, place, "they are".
to / too / two: direction, "also" or "excessively", the number.
your / you're: possession, "you are".
its / it's: possession, "it is".
than / then: comparison, sequence.
weather / whether: climate, "if".
hear / here: the sense, the place.
lose / loose: to misplace, not tight.
Strategies that actually raise your score
Expand the contraction. If the blank could hold it's, test it is in the sentence. If the sentence still works, the apostrophe belongs. This single test resolves most of the apostrophe pairs.
Ask what the word is doing. Their sits before a noun it owns; there points at a place or introduces a sentence. Naming the job takes a second and beats guessing.
Use the "belongs to" test for possessives. If something is owned, their and your are right; if a verb follows, they're and you're are right.
Read the whole sentence, not the blank. Homophone questions are decided by the grammar around the blank. Reading only the gap is how the wrong option gets chosen.