Ever Had a Stake Dinner?

Posted May 21, 2020 | Laura Christianson

Homophone confusion | BloggingBistro.com

The following sentence appeared in a published memoir:

I challenged him to a hundred yard run with the steakes being a stake dinner for two at the restaurant of the winner’s choice.

The writer demonstrates a common problem: homophone confusion.

No, a homophone is not a new kind of smart phone; homophones are words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently (some people refer to them as homonyms).

The sentence above has two problems:

  1. The author misspelled steaks (the meat you eat for dinner).
  2. The author confused the meaning of steaks and stakes.

The sentence should read:

I challenged him to a hundred-yard run with the stakes being a steak dinner for two at the restaurant of the winner’s choice.

Whether/Weather you’re/your writing/righting a blog post, a Facebook update, or/ore a book, be/bee aware of tricky homophones!

Your turn!

Share the most absurdly confused homophone you’ve read recently.

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