pictured words

a simple pairing of pictures and poetry

Tag: Silly American English

HOMOPHONE FUN (same sound, different spelling)

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Homophones
(same sound, different spelling)

ATE and EIGHT

I ate eight pies
and ate eight French fries.
My tummy says that wasn’t wise.


BARE and BEAR

Does a polar bear
have big bare feet?
They’re covered in hair,
so they’re not bare,
but here’s what’s neat:
They’re big bear feet!


FOR and FOUR

Today’s lunch trade
(a huge upgrade!)
was all my prunes
for four balloons!


DEAR and DEER

My dear,

Though deer can be dear,
let me tell you this, dear: 
the deer are still wild, dear child.
They’re beguiling, it’s true,
but I’m here to tell you,
don’t go touching a deer in the wild. 

HEAR and HERE

An h on my ear (right here –>___ear) makes it hear.

FLOUR and FLOWER

flour and water
and salt and yeast
all mixed up well
pans lightly greased
and as bread bakes
some flowers are placed
on our table in a vase
our bread is ready
we pour some tea:
a pretty feast for you and me!


HOUR and OUR

We baked our bread with flour,
and prettied our table with flowers,
but we barely had time to chat
‘cause we ate in no time flat,
but our cleanup took more than an hour!


KNOW AND NO

I know you know no means no.


MEAT and MEET


Let’s meet at the meat market at ten.
See you then!


PAIR, PARE, and PEAR


I have two pears (a pair of pears)
that I need to trim (called pare).


RIGHT and WRITE


I need to learn to write right,
right?


THEIR, THERE, and THEY’RE


Their house is there, and they’re there in their house.


TO, TOO and TWO

Person One, to Two and Three:  I want to go. Who wants to go, too?

Person Two:  I want to go, too!

Person Three:  I don’t want to go too much.

Person One to Person Two:  Then I guess it’s just us two! 


ONE and WON

Two played cards, but just one won.
Which one won?
The winner won!


WEAR and WHERE

We’re going somewhere and we’ll not go there bare,
so we’ll choose what to wear and we’ll wear it!

(c) Marie Elena Good 2025

One Man’s Play is his Neighbor’s Labor (a poem of silly American English spellings)

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One Man’s Play is His Neighbor’s Labor
(a poem of silly American English spellings)

He would have / should have chopped some wood
and would have, if he only could.
A livelihood of chopping wood would
likely be misunderstood
by those who live in his neighborhood
whose labor for their livelihood
feels more like floating on driftwood.
He noted that their income’s good,
not having fought for what they’ve got
(a yacht named “We Just Tied the Knot”)
which left him fraught with just one thought
atop his head like a 60-watt:
That someone surely chopped the wood
that made his neighbor’s fancy yacht,
which now he knew was headed straight
for the passage known as Taiwan Strait.
And as they cruised, his thoughts defused,
and then he snoozed, quite unamused.
And then he bought a nice hot brat,
and gave it not another thought.

© Marie Elena Good 2025

ood and ould make the same vowel sound: would, wood, could, should, good, livelihood, driftwood, neighborhood, understood

a, ai, ay, ait, aight, ey, and eigh make the same vowel sound:  play, straight, Strait, labor, they, neighbor

o, a, augh, ough, ach, ot, and att make the same vowel sound: chopped, on, got, not, knot, hot, yacht, fraught, bought, thought, atop, watt, brat

live and live make a different vowel sound in these words:  live, and livelihood

ote and oat make the same vowel sound:  note, float

not and knot sound the same

u, ui, ew, and oo make the same vowel sound:  knew, cruise, defuse, snooze, amuse

defuse, snooze, cruise, and amuse also all make the z sound

The e at the end of like gives the i its long sound, but not the i in live, unless it is the verb live (I need food to live) and not the adjective live (We are going live in 10 minutes)

The ai in Strait makes the long a sound, but the ai in Taiwan makes the long i sound. (In all fairness, Taiwan is not an American English word. wink wink.)

PHEW!