German homonyms

Zehe (die, n): toe and clove (of garlic)

Bank (die): bench (Pl.: Bänke) and bank (Pl.: Banken)

See: sea (die) and lake (der)

Steuer: steering wheel (das) and tax (die)

faul: lazy and rotten

sauer: sour and mad (of)

Nagel (der, ä-/): nail and pin

Schloss (das, ö-er): castle and lock

Leiter: manager (der, /) and ladder (die, -n)

Föhn (der, -e): warm wind and hair dryer

Gericht (das, -e): court and meal

Glas (das, ä-er): glass (of water), jar and glass (material)

Decke (die, -n): ceiling, blanket and table cover

Strauß (der, ä-e): ostrich (bird), bouquet and famous composer’s last name

Schild: shield (der, -e) and tag (das, -er)

Tau: rope (das, e) and dew (der)

Gehalt: content (der, -e) and salary (das, ä-er)

Mutter (die): mother (Pl.: Mütter) and screw nut (Pl.: Muttern)

scharf: sharp and spicy

Ring (der, e): boxing ring and ring on the finger

Birne (die, -n): fruit and bulb

Junge: boy (der) and offspring (das)

For teachers: you can play one game with your students called “Mein Teekesselchen”. You say: “Mein Teekesselchen ist/kann…” or ” In/mit/auf meinem Teekesselchen kann man…” and the students guess which word you are looking for. You should give them one sentence for each part of the homophone-pair. That way they will be able to guess better. For example, you could say: Auf meinem Teekesselchen kann man sitzen + In meinem Teekesselchen kann man sparen ->>> die Bank. 

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