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Center for Confident American English Communication

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Insight: Homonyms - Detect Word Meaning Through Listening

L Sound: Aisle, Isle, I'll

Homonyms are groups of two or three words that have the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings. There are many homonyms in English and you can only understand the meaning of the word by listening to the context of the sentence.

Our homonyms for this week are:

a. aisle (a place to walk between rows in a store, theater or classroom)
b. isle (a small island)
c. I’ll (the contracted form of ‘I will’)

Listening Activity

Listen as I say each sentence and choose the correct word from the pair of homonyms above. Remember that homonyms sound the same so you can only understand the meaning of the word from the context of the sentence.

Sentences:

When I get home I’ll give you a call.
The bread is in aisle five.
Susan wants to visit a tropical isle on her vacation.

Answers: c, a, b

Click Play to listen now:

Featured Learning Resource

Jennifer ESL - Jennifer is an American ESL teacher who has put more than 90 English lessons on YouTube.

In the video here Jennifer helps you practice how to pronounce the sounds of /r/ & /l/.

Video of Sung Yuri Speaking English

For a humorous take on the /r/ & /l/ sounds you can look at this video featuring a young Korean actress named Sung Yu Ri. In the video Sung Yu Ri is participating in a job interview where many of the questions from her prospective employer require an answer that includes words with the /r/ & /l/ sounds.

Watch this video now

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