E. THAN/ THEN: not a true homonym, but the words belong here because students confuse them. (Notice I could have written this informally: "students get them confused").

1. 'Than' is a word of comparison, as in the sentences:

"This student studied harder than that one and surely will pass." or
"My dog is bigger than yours."

2. 'Then' is an adverb with many meanings relating to time, timing, sequence, and/or logic:

'Then' can mean: 'after that', 'next,' 'afterward', 'subsequently', 'followed by', 'at that time', or 'at that moment', as in the sentence:

"First Socrates drank the poison, then he died".

3. 'Then' can mean 'in that case', 'so therefore' 'therefore', or 'it follows that', as in the sentence:

"If the student didn't study, then it came as no surprise that she didn't learn."

4. 'Then' is often used to express the results (consequences) of an action as the back end of the expression "IF ... THEN", as in the sentence:

"If the students study hard, then they will learn to read and write English well."

F. TAUGHT/ TAUT/THOUGHT: although the third word, 'thought', is not a true homonym, the other two are. Students frequently confuse these words because of the way others pronounce them:

1. 'Taught' is the past tense of the verb 'to teach', as in

"The teacher taught the class to write better."

2. 'Thought' is a noun meaning 'idea', as in

"A sentence is a complete thought."

3. 'Thought' is also the past tense of the verb "to think", as in:

"The teacher thought the student could improve if she worked harder."

4. 'Taut' can mean 'tight', 'stretched tightly', 'rigid', 'stiff', 'extended', 'firm', or 'inflexible'.

'Taut' can also mean 'tense', 'worried', 'anxious', 'nervous', or 'on edge'.

NB: Be careful not to confuse these words with the words 'though', 'although' and 'tough', which look very similar but have very different meanings: 'although' and 'though' both mean 'even if', 'despite the fact that', 'nonetheless' and 'however'. 'Tough' means 'hard', 'strong', 'harsh', 'sturdy' or 'rough'.