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The Lighter Side

Spelling Bee

Fill in the blanks in each sentence with two or three words that have the
same sound but different spelling and different meanings. The number
of blanks equals the number of letters in the missing word.
1. Our team _ _ _ ..._ _ _ game and lost three games.
2. They agreed _ _ play _ _ _ more games next week, _ _ _.
3. The _ _ _ _ golfers watched _ _ _ the ball when they heard someone shout “_ _ _ _!”
4. The four of us were so hungry that we _ _ _ ..._ _ _ _ _ hamburgers.
5. Each player _ _ _ _ _ the ball _ _ _ _ _ _ the hoop at least once.
6. As we approached the coast we could _ _ _ the _ _ _.
7. Anna had _ _ many things to _ _ _ on her new machine that she had no time to _ _ _ any seeds in the garden.
8. At the airport the guide said, “Come this _ _ _ so they can _ _ _ _ _ your luggage.”
9. We had to _ _ _ _ in line until they determined the _ _ _ _ _ _ of our bags.
10. We _ _ _ _ the boat to the dock so it wouldn’t go out when the _ _ _ _ came in.
11. Unfortunately, we did _ _ _ put a very good _ _ _ _ in the rope, and it came unfastened.
12. The people on the safari _ _ _ _ _ that a _ _ _ _ of elephants was headed their way.
13. If you sit _ _ _ _ very quietly, you can _ _ _ _ the wind blowing through the trees.
14. The man in the _ _ _ coat _ _ _ _ the notice to me.
15. We _ _ _ _ on horseback through the tall grass until we came to the _ _ _ _ that led to the town.
16. Everything looked so familiar; it was as if we had _ _ _ _ that _ _ _ _ _ before.
17. We went to where they were selling boats, and _ _ _ _ ..._ _ _ _ boats had a sign on them that said “_ _ _ .._ _ _ _ .”
18. The students _ _ _ _ _ in their notebooks the sentences that they had learned by _ _ _ _ .
19. The wind _ _ _ _ the rain clouds away, leaving a clear _ _ _ _ sky.
20. The father said, “I will sit in the shade out of the hot _ _ _ ’_ ..._ _ _ _ while my _ _ _ _ ..._ _ _ _ _ the roof on the house.”

From “ The Lighter Side” of TEFL: A Teacher’s Resource Book of Fun Activities for Students of English as a Foreign Languageedited by Thomas Kral. Printed in 1994 by the United States Department of State.

Spelling Bee answers
1. won, one; 2. to, two, too; 3. four, for, fore; 4. ate, eight; 5. threw, through; 6. see, sea; 7. so, sew, sow; 8. way, weigh; 9. wait, weight; 10. tied, tide; 11. not, knot; 12. heard, herd; 13. here, hear; 14. red, read; 15. rode, road; 16. seen, scene; 17. four sail, for sale; 18. wrote, rote; 19. blew, blue; 20. sun’s rays, sons raise;

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