Introduce the concept of homophones to your students by having them write funny sentences. First explain the definition of two homophones, such as "seller" and "cellar." Then use both words in one sentence, such as "The fruit seller didn't make any money because he lost the barrel of apples in the cellar." Then instruct your students to create sentences of their own.
Playing games is an active way to teach students about homophones. For example, "Homophone Concentration" is a memory game played with cards. Select 10 pairs of homophones, such as "chilly and chile," and then create several decks of cards with pictures representing these words. Students play by spreading the cards face down on a table and taking turns turning over two cards at a time, looking for homophone pairs. Each player should try and remember the location of each word as they work on creating pairs. The one with the most pairs wins. Help young students recognize homophones by playing the "Homophone Run and Touch" game with them. Simply place pictures or written words around the classroom and have your students race to touch homophone pairs as you write them on the chalkboard. Older elementary students can have a homophone dictionary race in which they write down as many homophone pairs as they can find in the dictionary in five minutes.
Help students keep track of homophones by having each student create a homophone dictionary. Students can keep their homophone dictionary in the back of their notebook and add new homophones whenever they see one in their spelling, reading or writing assignments. Help your entire class understand homophones by creating a class book about them. Divide your class into pairs. Each pair should create two pages for the book with a pair or homophones: on one page they use the words incorrectly and create an illustration while on the second page they use the words correctly and illustrate it with a picture.
A graphic organizer is a visual tool for helping students learn the difference between homophones such as "towed" and "toad." Have your students create their graphic organizers by writing the word "towed" and its definition -- "past tense of to tow" -- on one side of the page. They then write the word "toad" and its definition -- "an amphibian resembling a frog" -- on the other side of the page. Students should then write sentences for each homophone under the definition. Students should finish the page by writing a silly sentence using both words, such as "The toad had the old car towed."