Read the following sentence and determine if the words in bold are homographs or homophones. Then, choose the answer that correc
tly identifies which type it is and correctly defines what homograph or homophone means. Mother announced that the plain cream cheese was not to be eaten until we were crossing the plains in Kansas.
A. Homograph; the two words are pronounced the same but have different meanings and sometimes different spellings.
B. Homophone; the two words are written the same but have different meanings and sometimes different pronunciations.
C. Homophone; the two words are pronounced the same but have different meanings and sometimes different spellings.
D. Homograph; the two words are written the same but have different meanings and sometimes different pronunciations.
Guessing the words you are comparing are "plain" and "plains" the correct answer is C. Homophone; the two words are pronounced the same but have different meanings and sometimes different spellings. Because <em>plain</em> and <em>plains</em> are words that sound alike; but they have different meanings as in "<em>plain</em> cream cheese" the word plain means to be pure while the word <em>plains</em> in the part "crossing the plains in Kansas" is referring to the extensive area of Kansas country; lastly they have slightly different spellings as plain and plain<em>s</em>.
Option A. Homograph is wrong because the correct definition is two words are written the same, not pronounced the same.
Option B. Homophone is wrong because the correct definition is two words are pronounced the same, not written the same.
Option D. Homograph is wrong because in this case they are written the same as the <em>bear </em>(the verb to carry) and the <em>bear </em>(the animal). But for <em>plain</em> and <em>plains</em> they are not identical as one has a <em>S.</em>