About This Quiz
Complete the sentences with the right homonym to do well on this quiz. There are two sensible choices, one less sensible choice and one hilarious choice to sift through. Consider word form when making your selections and you'll do fine. The words are simple, but they can be tricky when identifying.
As an added bonus, we've included word origins for many of the answers. You'll find super-interesting facts about words we hear every day. Many of the words first came on the scene sometime around the 12th century. Old English and Old French terms precede most of these word gems. Word-form iterations usually sprang up centuries apart, a testament to the amazing flexibility of the spoken and written word. Some words, as you shall see, have been laid to rest, replaced by more polished modern terms. You'll absorb the hidden history of today's commonly used language at the end of this amusing vocabulary quiz.
How many homonyms can you master? Choose the correct answers without peaking, peeking or piquing?
"Affected" is a past participle adjective formed from the verb "affect." "Affected" was first used in the 1530s to mean "disposed," which is a meaning no longer used.
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"Cheep" is a verb that means "to utter a faint high-pitched sound." It's also a noun that describes the sounds or cries that young birds typically make.
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"Heir" is a term from around 1300, and it was derived from the Old French word "oir," which means "successor." "Heir apparent" is a noun-adjective that refers to an heir of someone who is still alive.
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The word "bail" was first used in the 14th century as a noun to mean "a receptacle used to remove water from a boat." The "bond money" definition of "bail" was first coined in the late 15th century.
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"Bald" derives from "ballede" which meant "white patch" in the 14th century. The verb "bald" came about in 1602 and means "to make or become bald."
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"Bawl" was first used as a verb to mean "howl like a dog." The noun "bawl" describes "a loud cry or wail." The verb means "to shout, weep or call out noisily."
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"Bare" is from the Old English word, "baer," which means "naked." The verb was first used before the 12th century to mean "to uncover" or "to make or lay (something) bare."
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"Lone" is a late 14th century derivation of the adjective, "alone." The literary sense of "lone" usually describes a place and means "remote, deserted."
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"Main" was first used as a noun before the 12th century to mean "force." The noun form also means "mainland," "crucial point," "duct" or "mainsail."
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"Meet" is a noun, verb and adjective. The adjectival form means "particularly modified to suit a need, circumstance or situation."
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"Beat" is a verb that means "to strike repeatedly." As a noun, it means "a single blow" or the "sound produced by a stroke or blow." The word was first used as a verb before the 12th century, and as a noun around 1625.
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"Belle" is a French word with Latin origins. The Latin "bella" is the feminine form of "bellus," meaning "fair" or "beautiful."
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"Bury" came about before the 12th century to mean "to discard by dumping in the earth." It's derived from the Middle English "burien," which is from the Old English "byrgan."
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"Patience" is from the Old French "pacience," meaning "permission" or "sufferance." "Patience" is a 13th century noun that means "the circumstance or capacity of being patient."
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"Blew" is derived from the Old English "bleow," and is the past tense verb form of "blow." The Old English "blawan" means "to make an air current, blow, kindle, inflate" or "to make a sound with a wind instrument."
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The adjective, "bored," came about in 1823 and means "to feel weary due to lack of interest in one's current activity" or "characterized by boredom." "Bored" is the past participle adjective form of the verb, "bore."
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"Pour" likely has Old French origin from "purer," meaning "to sift." The verb first appeared around the 14th century, and the noun form came about in 1790 and means "the activity of pouring," "an instance or amount poured" or "a downpour of rain."
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"Won" is the past participle verb of "win" from Old English "gewinnen," which is the past participle of "winnan." The noun form of "won" first appeared in 1917 and means "basic monetary unit of South Korea and North Korea."
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Both the noun and verb forms of "profit" came about in the 14th century. "Profit" is "financial gain; the difference between amount earned and amount spent in a business operation." The verb, "profit," means "acquiring financial advantage, particularly from an investment."
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The first spelling of the word "coarse" was "cors" in the early 15th century. The modern spelling of the word came about in the late 16th century.
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"New" derives from several Old English words: "niwe," "neowe" and "niowe." Both adjectival and adverbial forms of "new" were first used before the 12th century.
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"Dear" comes from Old English "deore," meaning "valuable, precious, costly or loved." "Dear" takes several forms, as an adjective, adverb, noun and the more recent interjection form.
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"Right" came about before the 12th century as an adjective, noun and adverb. It's from Old English "riht," meaning "morally correct," "power, privilege," or "interest in property."
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"Rode" is an early 17th century term and past participle of the verb, "ride." It first appeared in 1612 as a noun to mean "a chain or rope used to fasten an anchor to a boat."
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The Old English "sellan," meaning "furnish, supply, lend, surrender," precedes the word "sell," which takes noun and verb forms. The verb form first appeared in the 12th century.
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"Ail" is used both as a noun and a verb. The word first appeared before the 12th century as a verb meaning "to inflict discomfort." "Ail" is considered to be archaic, at least in verb form.
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"Feat" derives from Anglo-French "fet," meaning "action," and Latin "factum," meaning something done." Aside from its noun definition, "feat" took the, now archaic, adjectival form meaning "neat" or "smart."
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Old English "staca," meaning "pointed stick or post," precedes "stake." The verb form first appeared in the 14th century, and means "to attach to a stake," "to back financially," or "to bet."
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The transitive verb, "flour," first appeared in 1657 to mean "to coat with flour" or "to break up into small particles." "Flour" used to be spelled "flower" before some time around 1830.
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The word "son" is from Old English "sunu," meaning "descendant as son." The noun meaning "human male offspring" was first used before the 12th century.
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"Style" takes verb and noun forms. The verb form followed the 14th century noun form and was first used around 1580.
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"Principal" has Old French origin and means "main, most important." The word is both an adjective and a noun; both forms were first used in the 14th century.
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Before the 12th century, "idle" was first used as an adjective to mean "unemployed" or "unoccupied." The word is derived from the West Germanic Old English word "idel," which means "empty" or "useless."
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"Lessen" first appeared in the 13th century in the intransitive sense meaning "to become less." Other words from the 13th century include "beforehand," "furnace" and "merchant."
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The word "yore" has been around since the 14th century. It is derived from the Old English word "geara," which is an adverb.
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