🔤 CM2 grammatical homophones: the list, tests and games that really work

In CM2, grammatical homophones are those little words that sound the same but are spelled differently: a and à, son and sont, ces and ses… Your child has come across them since CE1 and can often recite the rule, yet they still pop up in red in their dictations. It's no surprise: when speaking, there's no difference, and it's precisely when writing—while focusing on the story—that these words slip in.

This article gives you the full overview: the list of homophones to know before moving up to 6e, a table with the quick test for each, and a three-step method you can use at home. For the most common pairs, there’s a dedicated article with detailed examples and exercises.

Grammatical homophones: what are we talking about?

Two words are homophones when they sound the same. We call them grammatical when the spelling difference comes from their role in the sentence, not from their meaning. For example:

• ver, vert, verre, vers: these are lexical homophones. You choose the right one based on meaning (un ver de terre, un pull vert, un verre d'eau). The dictionary is enough here.
• a / à: these are grammatical homophones. One is the verb avoir, the other is a preposition. The dictionary won’t help: you need to look at what the word is doing in the sentence.

That’s why memory alone isn’t enough. A child who ‘knows’ that sont is a verb can still write « ils son partis » in a dictation. What helps isn’t reciting the rule, but having a quick test to use when in doubt.

CM2 grammatical homophones and the test that makes the difference

Here are the pairs that come up most often in writing at the end of primary school, with the type of each word and the replacement trick to check. Each example in the last column is correct: you can dictate it as is.

Do you notice the pattern? Almost every test is about replacing the tricky word: with the imperfect tense (avait, était, étaient, avaient), with another determiner (mon, cet), or with another pronoun (il, me). If the sentence still makes sense, you've got the right word. Once these pairs are solid, you can add la / là / l'a (là → “here”, l'a → “had it”) and quel / quelle / qu'elle (qu'elle → “qu'il”).

Pair by pair: going further

a / à

This is often the first pair to practise, and one of the most common in writing. The imperfect tense test solves almost everything: Lina a rendu son livre becomes Lina avait rendu son livre, but à la bibliothèque can't become avait la bibliothèque. The tricky cases (il y a, une machine à laver, a capital “À”) are explained in detail in our full article on a ou à et l'astuce du « avait ».

et / est / es

Here, there are three words. Et links two things and can become “et puis” (and then). Est and es are forms of the verb être: they change to the imperfect (était, étais). The detail to remember: es is only used with tu. Method and examples in the article et ou est: comment ne plus se tromper.

son / sont

Sont is the verb être in the plural (ils sont, elles sont); son introduces a noun that belongs to someone. The trick: “sont” becomes “étaient”, “son” becomes “mon”. Everything is explained step by step in our guide son ou sont.

ces / ses

This time, both are determiners, so the imperfect test doesn't work. Switch to the singular: ces becomes ce, cet or cette (pointing to something), ses becomes son or sa (showing it belongs to someone). Tricky sentences are in the article ces ou ses: la bonne méthode.

That leaves on / ont, ce / se, c'est / s'est and ou / où, whose tests are in the table above: they use exactly the same approach.

The three-step method to use at home

1. Spot the tricky word. When rereading, your child underlines each little word from the list with a pencil. No corrections yet, just spotting.
2. Ask what it's doing in the sentence. Is it a verb? A word before a noun? A little linking word? No need for fancy grammar: “it's the verb” or “it's before a noun” is more than enough.
3. Do the test quietly. Replace it, listen. If the sentence still works, keep it; if not, change it.

The key is to do these three steps after writing, not during. Asking a child in CM2 to think about their story, adjective agreement and homophones all at once is just too much. Write first, then reread, focusing on one thing at a time.

Short games for painless practice

Ten focused minutes are better than a whole page of exercises done reluctantly. Here are some formats that work well at home:

• The slate game. You read a sentence aloud, your child (or the whole family) holds up the slate with the right homophone. “Les chats … affamés” → sont. Justify with the test before scoring the point.
• Card sorting. Write gap-fill sentences on cards and have your child sort them into two piles, one for each homophone. Perfect for practising one pair at a time.
• Spot the mistake. You write three sentences, one with a deliberate mistake. Your child finds it and explains the test. Children love correcting adults!
• The silly sentence. Your child invents a sentence with as many well-placed a and à as possible, for example: “Mon oncle a apporté à mamie un gâteau à la fraise qu'il a raté.”

Check progress with a focused dictation

The real test is dictation: that's when your child has to choose without being prompted. To track progress, use a short text, five or six lines, with several homophones from the pair you're practising. Our printable CM2 dictations save you searching for texts: do the dictation once, then together circle only the homophones and redo the tests one by one.

Keep a little error notebook: one line for each homophone mistake, with the corrected sentence and the test that would have avoided it. After a few weeks, you'll spot the pair that's really tricky. That's the one to focus on, not the others.

For children who remember better with a picture or a short phrase, the mnemonics for homophones give an extra boost, and the Kidibook Memory Tricks gather these tips to reread in two minutes before a test.

When confusion lasts: don't worry

Some children get every test right when speaking but still make mistakes in writing. It's not lack of effort: until the habit is automatic, it takes attention, and that attention is used up by the rest of the sentence. Here are some ideas:

• limit rereading to just one pair at a time;
• have your child write short sentences, where the tricky word stands out;
• praise every correct homophone, not just count the mistakes.

If confusion is still very frequent and affects other words too, talk to the teacher: they see your child write every day and can advise if more help is needed. Otherwise, patience pays off: these habits build up little by little, week after week, and will help throughout school.