Homonyms

ANNALS OF A DANGEROUS HANDYMAN portrays the tale of Henri Chabron, Canadian, American, commercial mercenary for hire, in the business of personal salvage. The fast-moving story story tells how a child, becoming a man in a world of lies, deceit and betrayal, is still able to preserve his soul.

Question from my E-Mail: Okay, Arline. I went back to class. They did shut up about foreshadowing, but now they're yelling about homonyms. Just for the record, what's a homonym????

Answer:  Homonyms are words that sound just alike, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. I can't tell you how many self-published books I've found mistakes in and some were by very successful writers.

In my classes I used to hand out a list I found back in the day on the Mystery Writer's Forum. Have no idea who posted it, but he did everyone there a great favor.

Here's the list.

1. Homonyms and word confusion

Aisle, a walkway /isle, an island
Allude, refer to /elude, flee
Alright/all right - alright is a misspelling
Alter (v) change /altar (n) a place of worship
Ascent (n) upward pathway /assent (v) agree
Awhile - use a while unless you're William Faulkener
Bail money to get out of jail/bale bundled hay
Bare naked /bear n. an animal or v. withstand
Bazaar (n) market in the far east /bizarre (adj) strange
Blonde (n) a female with yellow hair/blond (adj)the male form of yellow
Brake pedal to stop the car/break a pause in activity, or when something is broken
Canvas material you paint on/canvass to question everyone
Cite refer to/sight see/site where a building is built
Coarse (adj)/course (n)
Complementary/complimentary
Criteria/criterion - criteria is plural of criterion
Desert Sahara.../dessert yummy
Discreet (tactful)/discrete (separate)
Emigrate (leave)/immigrate (enter)
Enter come in/inter bury
Exit/exist
Farther (distance)/further (more)
Formally (manner)/formerly (previous)
Fried/friend
Guess/guest
Hear with your ear/here this place
Heel on your foot/heal make healthy
Herd group of cattle/heard
Imminent (about to happen)/eminent (distinguished)
Mantel shelf above the file/mantle a wrap
Massage what a masseuse gives you/message when someone gives you information
Naïve (adj) unknowing/naivete (n) the
New unused/knew was aware of
Pane window glass/pain discoomfort
Pear n. /pair (two)
Peek (to Look)/peak (the top of a mountain) pique, (a fit of anger
Peel remove the skin of a f ruit /peal the sound a bell makes
Present n. a gift a. the opposite of absent /presence an imminence
Quite/quiet
Roll/role
Rouge face paint /rogue, a bad guy
Salvage, n. trash /savage, a. uncivilized
Strait/straight
Tale/tail
There/their/there're
Thorn/throne
To/too/two
Trial/trail
Vain/vane/vein
Woman/women
Won't/want
Your/you're