ADVANCED ENGLISH HOMONYMS EXERCISE 2

level: Advanced (C1/C2)

✓ Useful for TOEFL ✓ Useful for Cambridge B2/C1

This second exercise features trickier pairs such as storey/story, current/currant, and ascent/assent. Read each sentence carefully before choosing.

READY TO PRACTICE? LET’S GO!

Choose the correct homonym to complete each sentence.
Example: He lives by (by/buy) the river.

1. He lived on the top floor of a six- (storey/story) building.✓

2. All the (current/currant) ministers are from the same party.✓

3. The (ascent/assent) was very steep.✓

4. I don't believe his (story/storey).✓

5. Does your computer have a (cereal/serial) number?✓

6. He didn't expect that this would (affect/effect) his performance.✓

7. I didn't read the whole report; I just read the (summary/summery).✓

8. That was not the desired (effect/affect).✓

9. My brother eats (cereal/serial) in the morning.✓

10. John was praying at the (alter/altar).✓

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Did you know? Precision with homophones and near-homophones matters more as your writing becomes more advanced.

At advanced levels, homonym errors are particularly damaging because they suggest the writer doesn't fully control the words they're using, even common ones. Pairs like stationary/stationery, counsel/council, or phase/faze catch out even experienced writers.

TOEFL reading passages use academic homonyms with precision, and understanding them is essential for answering vocabulary-in-context questions correctly. IELTS Reading also tests whether you can distinguish between closely related words. This is Exercise 2 in a three-part series; each one covers a fresh set of pairs.

Next exercise: Homonyms and Homophones – Exercise 3 →

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