When it comes to learning the English language, what non-natives find hard to understand is homophones. These are the words that have different meanings but they’re pronounced similarly.
Many people believe sneek and sneak have the same sound but they both have different meanings, which means they’re homophones. Though that’s not the case. You’re probably wondering how is sneek different from sneak, here’s an answer:
The term sneak refers to doing something silently, covertly, or in secret. Sneek does not exist in the English language. However, it’s a city in the Netherlands.
Let’s have a look at some examples of sneak:
Lara managed to sneak in without anyone noticing her.
Several gangsters were caught sneaking around the bank by the police.
When it was dark, the thieves sneaked into the building.
In this article, I’m going to talk about homophones in detail. I’ll also share some phrasal verbs of sneak.
Let’s dive into it…
Homophones
Homo means something similar. When we combine homo with phones, it means the words having different meanings and similar pronunciations. It can confuse beginners with pronunciation. They can help you understand native speakers better. These words can either be nouns, pronouns, verbs, or adverbs.
Examples
Let’s have a look at some examples;
- Which and witch
Which 80’s movie do you think was the best?
Witchcraft is believed to have supernatural powers that might bring change.
- Be and bee
John will be arriving next Friday.
Honey bees provide 1/3 percent of American diets.
- Here and hear
What is wrong here?
Ever hear about the food shortage in third-world countries?
- Accept and except
I can’t accept your offer.
No one can make cookie pie better except Carl.
- Sea and see
There are 7 seas in the world’s
I can see this coming.
- To and two
I will try to find the solution.
I have two sisters.
- Bear and bare
The baby bear is cute.
I love walking on the grass barefooted.
Homographs
The words are homographs when they have:
- Same spelling
- Different meaning
Here are some examples:
| Wind (a strong gust of air) | Wind (to rotate a thing around another) |
| Live (verb indicating someone’s act of residing at a certain place) | Live (broadcast happening in real time) |
| Letter (the letter we write to someone) | Letter (the letter of alphabets) |
Homonyms
The words that have the properties of both homophones and homographs are homonyms. They’ve similar pronunciation and the same spelling.
For instance:
- Book and book
Can you book a reservation for me?
Did you see my English book?
- Tie and tie
A black-tie goes well with a white shirt.
The match is a tie.
- Can and can
Can you do me a favor?
There’s a Red Bull can on the shelf, can you please put it in the refrigerator?
- Nail and nail
It’s the last nail in the coffin.
I clip my nails every week.
Sneak Peak and Sneak Peek
Sneak peek and sneak peak are also homophones. As you can see there is a difference in the spelling of peak and peek, though they’ve similar pronunciations.
If you look at the individual meaning of peak, it is usually used when you reach the height of something. The sneak peak can be any mountain that is secretive where there’s no chaos of the busy life. While sneak peek means seeing something before it gets public.
Many non-natives use these terms interchangeably due to their similar sounds.
Sentences
I’ve planned a big surprise for my daughter, come on and take a sneak peek.
Center Vs. Centre
Center and centre can be used interchangeably depending on where you live. American people end most words with ‘er’, therefore center is an American word. On the other hand, centre is a British word because most of the words in the British dictionary end with ‘re’.
- Caliber (American word)
- Calibre (British word)
- Fiber (American word)
- Fibre (British word)
Sneaked Vs. Snuck
You’re probably wondering which of these is the past tense and past participle of sneak. Sneaked is an outdated past tense of sneak. While snuck is more commonly used as past tense in publications and tv shows these days. As you might know, ‘ed’ is used with regular past tense. Let me tell you that verbs are not always regular.
Sneaked was more common between the years 1500 and 1800. Whereas snuck appeared in the 1800 and has gained ground in the U.S. more than sneaked. While British people still use sneaked and do not use snuck.
To be more consistent, it’s preferable to stick with either sneaked or snuck in both past and past participle tenses.
Conclusion
- There’s no such word as sneek that exists in the English dictionary.
- On the other hand, sneak means to do something silently.
- Words having similar sounds and different meanings are homophones.
- Bee and be are examples of homophones.
- Differentiating such words takes a lot of practice.