Homophones: there, their, they're

Three words, one sound

Say these out loud: there, their, they're. They sound exactly the same! Words like this are called homophones. But they are spelled differently and mean different things. Let us learn each one.

there = a place

There tells you where something is. Look closely and you can see the word here hiding inside it!

• Put your bag over there. 📍
• There are five apples. 🍎
• Look! It is there.

their = belongs to them

Their shows that something belongs to them. It has the word heir in it, a person who inherits things.

• That is their dog. 🐶
• The children ate their lunch. 🍱
• Their house is big. 🏠

they're = they are

They're is short for they are. The little apostrophe ( ' ) takes the place of the missing letter a.

• They're happy. 😄 (They are happy.)
• They're going home. 🏠
• I think they're funny. 🤣

A handy table

Word	Means	Trick
there	a place 📍	has 'here' inside
their	belongs to them 🎒	shows ownership
they're	they are 👫	apostrophe = missing letter

The check-it trick

Not sure which to use? Try saying they are in the sentence.

• They are happy. ✅ → use they're
• They are dog? ❌ → not they're, so use their or there

Then ask: is it a place (there) or does it belong to someone (their)?

Practise

Choose the right word:

• ___ are three cats. → There 🐱
• The kids lost ___ ball. → their ⚽
• ___ reading a book. → They're 📖

Super spelling!

Now you can tell these three tricky words apart. Use the check-it trick whenever you are not sure.

Next, try Changing y to i and Prefixes and Suffixes.