Sun vs Son

“Sun” (noun) means the star at the centre of our solar system. “Son” (noun) means a male child. Sun and son are homophones: they sound exactly the same when spoken, but they are spelled differently and mean completely different things.

Yes, “sun” functions as a noun in standard English. The star at the centre of our solar system.

Yes, “son” functions as a noun in standard English. A male child.

“Sun” rhymes with “fun” and “run” — think of the sun as something bright and cheerful in the sky; “son” rhymes with “one”, because a son is one particular family member.

Here is an example: “The sun was shining brightly all afternoon.”

Here is an example: “Their son just started university this year.”

Yes. “Sun” and “son” are true homophones — in standard English pronunciation they sound identical, even though the spelling and meaning are completely different. You can only tell them apart from context, not from sound.

A homophone is a word that sounds exactly the same as another word but has a different spelling and a different meaning. The term comes from the Greek 'homo' (same) and 'phone' (sound). See the LexFizz Homophones hub and Glossary entry for more examples.

Yes — homophone pairs like sun/son are a common source of spelling mistakes even for native speakers, because the identical pronunciation gives no clue about which spelling is correct. Spell-checkers often miss these errors too, since both words are spelled correctly — just used in the wrong place.

Practise sun and son in full sentences rather than as an isolated pair, and quiz yourself with LexFizz's Flash Cards and Quiz exercises. Writing a few of your own example sentences for each word is one of the fastest ways to make the distinction automatic.