Spelling checkers - a homonym exercise
When learning a new language, it can be tempting to rely on the automatic spelling checkers to correct your words. That may not be such a good idea with this poem!
In all languages, there are words that sound the same, spelled differently and have different meaning (homonyms).
I found auto-correction in Japanese to be much worse than English – my intelligent ‘spelling checkers’ regularly chose the wrong kanji characters, but which had the correct pronunciation.
These tools simply aren’t intelligent enough to look at the surrounding context and choose the correct word.
I love using the poem below for showing how spelling checkers can be fooled. Or rather, how the spelling checkers can fool the writer!
Moral of the story – don’t trust the spelling checker when learning a language. Look up unknown words with a real dictionary first!
Be a better spelling checker - a homonym poem
Read and find every word that is correctly spelt but has the wrong meaning in the poem below and correct it.
Modified from the original poem by Jerrold H. Zar in 1992
Spell checker
Eye have a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plain lee marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye can knot sea
Eye strike the quays and type a whirred
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong
A chequer is a grate thing
It freeze yew lodes of thyme
It helps me rite all stiles of righting
And aides me when eye rime
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it’s weigh
My chequer tolled me sew
(Sauce unknown)
Conversation prompts
- Are there any homonyms in your native language that are commonly misused?
- Are there homonyms or similar sounding words in English that you constantly use wrongly? (e.g. effect vs affect)
- Do you know any tricks to remember correct spelling or correct words?
- Which words do you know that are spelled differently or have different meanings in American English than the same words in British English or another English dialect?