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I Was Weak for a Week Trivia Quiz

English is a curious language. We have words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. We have words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Let's explore:-

A multiple-choice quiz by 1nn1. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
1nn1

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
405,320

Updated
Jun 03 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Easy

Avg Score
8 / 10

Plays
639

Last 3 plays: muzzyhill3 (10/10), Guest 82 (8/10), FREEDOM49 (8/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. In the sentence "I was weak for a week", "weak" and "week" sound the same but have different meanings.
What are the two meanings of "weak" and "week" respectively? Hint

Seven days; not strong

None of these options are correct

Both words can have both meanings

Not strong; seven days

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Which one of the word pairs, found in the passage below is *NOT* a HOMOPHONE pair:
"It will be a great day. The sun is out and I am going to meet my son who is coming home on a big plane. I have to go to the airport which is on a huge plain outside our hilly city. Hopefully at the airport I might sight a new Airbus A380. We will have a big barbecue afterwards to celebrate, with lots of meat and salads".

Which of the following are not HOMOPHONES? Hint

sun, son

plane, plain

meet, meat

might, sight

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Let's try another homophone. Which of the following sentences does *NOT* contain a pair of homophones? Hint

Jimmy ate breakfast cereal while he was watching the serial killer TV program

I need a break as a car rear-ended me when he did not brake in time

My sister Kate flew a blue kite when the wind was blowing

Today I will buy a new soccer ball at the sports store by the river

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Which one of the following uses the correct homophone (in capitals) in each of the following sentences? Hint

I needed exact change for the FARE for the bus ride into the city

We did not use the SELLER in the basement for coal anymore

The CITE had been chosen for the new football stadium

I decided I wanted to study a chemistry COARSE

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Let's try something different! Consider the sentence, "The sow and her piglets watched the farmer sow the seeds in the field next to the pigsty."
The word "sow" is used twice but pronounced differently in each case. With what words do the two "sows" rhyme with, in the order they are used in the sentence? Hint

dough; throw

cow, now

throw; cow

now; dough

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. "Lead" is another homograph: It can be pronounced two ways. Consider the sentence, "The mother duck will lead her ducklings to the pond in the morning." Which word does *NOT* rhyme with "lead" as it is used in the sentence? Hint

seed

bread

bead

weed

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Which of the following words changes meaning when you capitalise the first letter? Hint

clean

mop

sweep

polish

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Sometimes words can be spelled the same and pronounced the same but have different meaning. Which one of the following words can be used in both blank spaces?
"The ____ is going to fall into the icy lake. Oh, it's almost too much to ____. Hint

bear

ape

fox

bat

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. A heteronym is a word that has a different pronunciation and meaning from another word with the same spelling. Which one of the following words *CANNOT* be pronounced in different ways? Hint

wind

desert

convict

turn

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Now let's see how much you have learned:
"They're still over there. Their taxi has not arrived yet"
People often confuse the words, "There, their, they're" both in speech and in writing. What are these three words from the options below? Hint

Homonym

Heteronym

Homophone

Homograph

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In the sentence "I was weak for a week", "weak" and "week" sound the same but have different meanings. What are the two meanings of "weak" and "week" respectively?

Answer: Not strong; seven days

HOMOPHONEs are words that sound the same but have different meanings and are spelled differently. In this case "weak" means "frail" or "sickly" or if you are Superman, it means "without power". A "week" means a period of seven days.

"Homophone" means same sound.

2. Which one of the word pairs, found in the passage below is *NOT* a HOMOPHONE pair: "It will be a great day. The sun is out and I am going to meet my son who is coming home on a big plane. I have to go to the airport which is on a huge plain outside our hilly city. Hopefully at the airport I might sight a new Airbus A380. We will have a big barbecue afterwards to celebrate, with lots of meat and salads". Which of the following are not HOMOPHONES?

Answer: might, sight

"Might" and "Sight" are rhyming words but are not homophones. However they do have homophones of their own: "might/mite" and "sight/site"
The other three pairs are words that sound the same but have different spelling (and meanings) so they are homophone pairs.

3. Let's try another homophone. Which of the following sentences does *NOT* contain a pair of homophones?

Answer: My sister Kate flew a blue kite when the wind was blowing

"My sister Kate flew a blue kite when the wind was blowing" is a sentence without homonyms, however, it does contain words that can be homonyms:
FLEW means "soared" or "took off" or "hovered". "FLUE" is a homonym that means part of a chimney,
"Blue" is a colour but "Blew" is the past tense of "blow".
The other homophone pairs were: break/brake; buy/by; cereal/serial.

4. Which one of the following uses the correct homophone (in capitals) in each of the following sentences?

Answer: I needed exact change for the FARE for the bus ride into the city

Here are the meanings of the homophones:
FARE is the amount of something; FAIR means equitable or unbiased.
CITE means to quote or to specify; SITE means a location.
SELLER means a trader or vendor; CELLAR means a room underground or a vault.
COARSE means rough; COURSE means a program of study

5. Let's try something different! Consider the sentence, "The sow and her piglets watched the farmer sow the seeds in the field next to the pigsty." The word "sow" is used twice but pronounced differently in each case. With what words do the two "sows" rhyme with, in the order they are used in the sentence?

Answer: now; dough

A HOMOGRAPH is a word that is spelled the same as another, but which can be pronounced differently, giving it a different meaning. In this case "Sow" (rhyming with "now") is a female pig whereas "Sow" (rhyming with "dough") means to plant seeds.

Homograph means "same writing".

Interestingly "Sow", "So" and "Sew" are homophones as they are all pronounced the same but spelled differently.

Answer: bread

In the sentence in the question "lead" is pronounced "leed" so it rhymes with "bead", "seed", "need", "weed".

In the sentence, "Lead is heavier than steel", "lead" is pronounced "led" so it rhymes with "red", "bread" and "tread".

When you read homographs you need to read the other words around the homograph to know how to say it.

7. Which of the following words changes meaning when you capitalise the first letter?

Answer: polish

Capitonyms are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalised. In this case "polish' is a verb meaning "to make shiny" whereas "Polish" is an adjective that describes a person that lives in Poland. In this case the words are even pronounced differently when capitalised.

8. Sometimes words can be spelled the same and pronounced the same but have different meaning. Which one of the following words can be used in both blank spaces? "The ____ is going to fall into the icy lake. Oh, it's almost too much to ____.

Answer: bear

A true HOMONYM is a word that sounds the same as another word (with the same spelling) but differs in its meaning. In this example "bear" is used as a noun (an animal) and also as a verb meaning "to carry", There are many examples where animal names, which are all nouns, can be used as verbs. Some examples include bat, fox, ape, snipe, flounder, chicken, badger, perch, duck and beaver. There are many more.

"Bare" is a homophone of "Bear".

9. A heteronym is a word that has a different pronunciation and meaning from another word with the same spelling. Which one of the following words *CANNOT* be pronounced in different ways?

Answer: turn

Heteronyms are words that are spelled identically but have different meanings when pronounced differently. A heteronym is a special type of homograph. Many heteronyms occur because one pronunciation is a verb and another is a noun. This is not always the case (eg "I read the book" and "I will read the book"). However, in the three examples used, the word is pronounced differently when the word acts either as a noun or verb. (Sometimes these different pronunciations can be as subtle as a emphasis on different syllables).

Convict: kunVIKT, verb, to find guilty; KONvikt, noun, a prisoner.
Wind: WINEd, verb, to coil up; WINd, noun, blowing air.
Desert: dihZURT, verb, to leave ; DEZert, noun, arid region.

10. Now let's see how much you have learned: "They're still over there. Their taxi has not arrived yet" People often confuse the words, "There, their, they're" both in speech and in writing. What are these three words from the options below?

Answer: Homophone

"There" means is a location that is the opposite to "here" (adverb).
"Their" indicates more than one person possesses something (pronoun).
"They're" is a contraction meaning They are (pronoun + verb).
All the terms used in this quiz sound similar. The easiest way to understand them is to look at their roots:
"Homo-" means "same"; "Hetero-" means "different".
"-nym" means name; "-graph" means "writing"; and "-phone" means "sound". So all three words are written differently but sound the same. This makes them homophones.

Source: Author 1nn1

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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