It turns out that the folks who said that students need to use context to read a word
correctly (also known as the three cueing system or MSV) were only 99.9% wrong. Probably even
more than that, but let’s move on.
There are some rare cases when you do need context to read an individual word correctly.
Heteronyms are when two (or more) words are spelled the same way, but have different pronunciations
and meanings.
For example:
moped
Deb rode her
moped
through the city.
Tony
moped
about sadly.
As you can see, both pronunciations of each word can be explained using phonics, but the
reader will need context to know which version is correct. With some heteronyms the only
difference is which syllable is emphasized. With others the difference is greater.
Here are some more examples:
house
Tony has a charming little
house
.
Who would suspect that such a place could
house
so many secrets?
record
Tony set the
record
for the most ancient tomes deciphered.
He will
record
his findings in his secret journal.
attribute
Healing powers are an
attribute
of unicorn horns.
Most scholars
attribute
this knowledge to an ancient Roman alchemist.
read
Yesterday, Deb
read
the burnt remains of the letter Tony tried to destroy.
Tomorrow, she will sneak into the laboratory to
read
his other notes.
appropriate
Deb will
appropriate
the unicorn horns for her own use.
Most people don’t think this is
appropriate
.
use
Deb will
use
trickery to learn the location of the unicorn realm from Tony.
Deb will make
use
of the information to enter into the realm.
lead
Deb convinced Tony to unlock the heavy
lead
box.
The map inside will
lead
them to the unicorn realm.
desert
Tony is guiding Deb through the
desert
to the unicorn realm.
Deb plans to
desert
Tony when he’s no longer useful to her.
close
Deb leans in
close
to whisper goodbye to Tony.
Then she will
close
the dungeon door on him.
buffet
Deb dreams of serving unicorn steaks at the
buffet
.
The guests will
buffet
each other to be first in line.
does
Does Deb know how to hunt unicorns?
Deb prepared by hunting does and stags.
present
Deb has brought a
present
for the unicorn king.
She will
present
it during the ceremony at dusk.
bow
Deb will
bow
before the Unicorn King.
Then she will pull out her
bow
and shoot him with an arrow.
wind
Tony feels the icy
wind
blow through a grate in the floor.
Tony climbs into the twisting tunnel and will
wind
his way out of the dungeon.
tear
Tony can
tear
a piece of his shirt to bandage the unicorn king’s injury.
A single
tear
runs down the unicorn’s face.
wound
Tony
wound
the cloth around the injury.
Now, the
wound
can heal.
subject
Every
subject
of the unicorn realm is shocked.
They will
subject
Deb to a unicorn trial.
convict
The unicorns
convict
Deb for her crime.
She will be a
convict
for the rest of her life.
See wikipedia
for additional examples of heteronyms.
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