PRIMARY SPELLING & PHONICS • GRADE 2–3 HOMOPHONES • /stiːl/ CONTRAST • SCRIPTURE STUDENT WORKSHEET • PAGE 1 OF 2

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Orthographic & Moral Contrast • The Sound /stiːl/

steal: To take that which is not one's own without right or permission; Old English stelan (vowel team ea).

steel: A hard, strong, refined alloy of iron and carbon, used for tools, knives, and bridges; Old English stēli (vowel team ee).

Scriptural & Mechanical Copywork • 26px Penmanship Track

Copy the classic moral injunction and mechanical description neatly:

Thou shalt not steal. — Exodus 20:15

The sharp knife blade is forged of tempered steel.

Homophone Cloze Studio • steal vs. steel

Write steal or steel in each blank:

1. A thief crept into the house to ____________ gold and silver.

2. Great railway tracks and locomotives are crafted of ____________.

3. An honest child will never ____________ so much as a single pin.

4. The watchmaker used a tiny pair of ____________ tweezers.

Original Synthesis Composition

Write two original sentences demonstrating the distinct meaning of each homophone:

[steal]:

[steel]:

Wheeler's Orthoepic Rules • Digraphs EA vs. EE

1. 1. Digraph EA in Moral Verbs: The verb steal uses the digraph ea, continuing Old English stelan. Notice related strong forms: steal, stole, stolen.

2. 2. Digraph EE in Metals: The noun steel uses double ee, deriving from Proto-Germanic *stahliją (Old English stēli). It names an enduring metal alloy.

3. 3. Etymological Association: Associate steel with wheel, heel, keel (mechanical/physical nouns with ee), and steal with heal, meal, seal (actions and living things with ea).