All about the NYMS of English | Learning English from A to Z

The ending -nym comes from the Greek onyma, meaning “name”. Most kids meet two of the nyms of English early on, synonyms and antonyms, and stop there. There are many more, and a few of them explain things kids trip over every week, like why their, there and they’re all sound the same.

This guide starts with homophones, because they cause more spelling mistakes than any other group, then works through the rest.

Homophones: Words That Sound the Same

A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning, and usually a different spelling.

I can’t hear you. Come and sit here.

Spell-check rarely catches these, because both words are real. That’s why they need to be learned on purpose.

Homophone, Homonym, Homograph: What’s the Difference?

These three get mixed up, partly because textbooks define them slightly differently. Here’s the most common way to tell them apart.

A word that’s spelt the same but sounds different, like the two meanings of lead or tear, also has its own name: a heteronym.

The Pairs Kids Mix Up Most

These are the ones that turn up again and again in school writing, with a memory trick for each.

• Their / there / they’re: Their shows belonging (their bags). There is a place (over there), and it has here inside it. They’re is short for “they are”. If you can’t swap it for “they are”, it isn’t they’re.

• Your / you’re: You’re means “you are”. Try the swap: “You’re late” works as “You are late”. “You are bag” doesn’t, so it’s your bag.

• Its / it’s: It’s means “it is” or “it has”. Its shows belonging and has no apostrophe, just like his and hers. “The dog wagged its tail.”

• To / too / two: Two is the number. Too means “also” or “more than enough”, and it has one o too many. To is everything else: going to school, to eat.

• Whether / weather: Weather is rain and sunshine. Whether introduces a choice: “Tell me whether you’re coming.”

• Principal / principle: The principal of a school is your pal. A principle is a rule or belief, and both words end in -le.

• Stationary / stationery: Stationery, with an e, means paper, pens and envelopes. Stationary, with an a, means standing still, as a parked car is.

• Break / brake: You break a glass. You press the brake to stop a cycle.

• Piece / peace: A piece of pie. Peace is the absence of fighting.

Three-Way Homophones

Some homophones come in threes, which makes them harder still.

• To, too, two

• Their, there, they’re

• Raise, rays, raze (lift up, beams of light, knock down)

• Sight, site, cite (seeing, a place, to quote a source)

A Longer List to Practise With

A few pairs sound alike only in some accents. Which and witch sound identical for most speakers today, but some people still pronounce the h in which. The same goes for our and hour and for wear and where. If a pair doesn’t sound the same to your kid, that’s not a mistake. It’s how English is spoken where they live.

Quick Check

Choose the right word.

1. I left ______ book on the bus. (your / you’re)

2. The cat licked ______ paw. (its / it’s)

3. We need ______ more chairs. (to / too / two)

4. Take an umbrella, ______ or not it rains. (weather / whether)

5. The new ______ visited our class today. (principal / principle)

Answers: 1. your 2. its 3. two 4. whether 5. principal

Exercises like this help, but the real test is writing at speed, when the brain reaches for whichever spelling comes first. Regular writing with someone pointing out the slips is what fixes them, and it’s part of the work in Bambinos’ online English classes for kids and teens.

The Everyday Nyms

Synonyms have the same or nearly the same meaning: big and large, happy and glad. Few synonyms are perfect swaps. A large coffee is normal, but a big coffee sounds odd, which is a good thing to point out to older kids choosing words for a story.

Antonyms are opposites: hot and cold, early and late.

Contronyms are the strange ones: single words with two opposite meanings. Dust can mean to remove dust (dusting the shelves) or to add it (dusting a cake with sugar). Left can mean “went away” or “remained” (Five sweets are left). Kids usually love these once they spot one.

Nyms for Names

• Pseudonym: A name a writer uses instead of their own. The Hindi and Urdu writer Dhanpat Rai wrote as Premchand.

• Mononym: A person known by a single name, like the footballer Pelé or the actor Kajol.

• Eponym: A person something is named after, or the thing named after them. The sandwich is named after the Earl of Sandwich, the saxophone after Adolphe Sax and the diesel engine after Rudolf Diesel.

• Aptronym: A name that suits its owner’s job a little too well. The sprinter Usain Bolt is the example everyone quotes.

• Charactonym: A character’s name that hints at their personality. Charles Dickens was fond of these: the mean-spirited Ebenezer Scrooge, and Mr Gradgrind, a headmaster who grinds the joy out of learning.

• Demonym: The word for people from a place. Indian, Keralite, Mumbaikar and Delhiite are all demonyms.

• Endonym and exonym: What a place is called by its own people, and what outsiders call it. Germans call their country Deutschland (the endonym), while English speakers say Germany (the exonym). The Austrian capital is Wien to its residents and Vienna in English.

• Cryptonym: A code name for a secret plan or person. The Allied landings in Normandy in 1944 were planned under the code name Operation Overlord.

Nyms About How Words Relate

• Hypernym and hyponym: A general word and the more specific words under it. Fruit is a hypernym. Mango, banana and guava are its hyponyms. Sorting words like this is a useful vocabulary game for younger kids, and it’s one of several ways to grow a kid’s vocabulary without flashcards.

• Metonym: A word used to stand for something closely connected to it. In “The pen is mightier than the sword”, pen stands for writing and sword for fighting.

• Retronym: A new name made for an old thing, because something newer came along. Phones were just phones until mobiles arrived, so the old kind became a landline. The same thing happened with acoustic guitar and snail mail.

• Acronym: A word made from first letters and said as a word, like NASA or UNICEF. When the letters are said one by one, as in BBC, it’s strictly an initialism, though most people call both acronyms.

• Oronym: A phrase that sounds like another phrase when spoken quickly. “Ice cream” and “I scream” is the classic one. “A nice man” and “an ice man” is another.

A Game to Try at Home

Pick one nym a week and go hunting for examples together: on cereal boxes, in the newspaper, on signboards during a drive. Homophones and eponyms are the easiest to start with. Most kids find more than you expect, and the words they find themselves are the ones they remember.

If your kid enjoys word games like these and you’d like a teacher to take them further, you can book a free demo class with Bambinos.