When you make a cake, do you use flour or flower? Does for, fore, or four come after three? Is a chicken a foul or fowl? Will water frees, freeze, or frieze when the temperatures are super cold? Have fun learning about these homonyms and many others in this article.
flour, flower
Flour is a fine powder used for cooking that is made by grinding grain and is typically used to make bread, cakes, and pastries.
There was more flour on Molly's clothes than there was in the batter for the chocolate chip cookies.
A flower is the brightly colored part of a plant together with its stalk.
Her favorite type of flower is the rose, especially ones that are white.
for, fore, four
For is a preposition with many meanings. One of these meanings is in support of or in favor of.
Many people were not for the new mandatory increase in the water bill.
Fore also has several different meanings. Probably its most popular use is as an exclamation called out as a warning to people in the path of a golf ball.
”Fore!” yelled Jerry when he saw that there was a group of children in the path of his golf ball.
Four is the number that comes after three.
Four people are going with us on the camping trip.
forego, forgo
Forego means to precede in place or time.
An amiable discussion will forego the debate.
Forgo means to do without or abstain from.
Harold made a decision early in life to forgo cigarettes.
foreword, forward
A foreword is a short introduction to a book that is usually written by someone other than the author.
It is a great honor to be asked to write the foreword to the novel of a famous author.
Forward means toward the front.
The group of students was asked to move forward.
fort, forte
A fort is a fortified building or a permanent army post. Historically, it meant a trading post.
A fort was built to protect the new colony.
Forte is a thing at which someone excels. In fencing, forte is the strongest part of a sword blade. In music, forte means a passage that is to be performed loudly.
Jillian's found her forte to be playing the piano.
forth, fourth
Forth is a direction.
Jesus yelled, “Lazarus, come forth!”
Fourth is the ordinal number for four.
Jenny was fourth in line for her school pictures.
foul, fowl
Foul describes something that is offensive to the senses, something that is wicked or immoral, of something that contains noxious matter.
The hikers cringed when they realized that they would have to wade through the foul swamp water to reach their destination.
A fowl is a domestic bird kept mainly for its eggs and meat.
Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese are fowl valued for their eggs and meat.
frees, freeze, frieze
When you set someone or something free, you turn it loose. Frees is the plural of free.
He catches as many lightning bugs each evening as he can, then he frees them the next morning.
Freeze means to turn into ice or some other solid matter because of extreme cold, or it means to feel so cold that you think you are near death.
You will freeze if you go outside without a coat.
A frieze is a sculpted or painted decoration on a wall near the ceiling.
The couple designed a frieze for their new art room.
