their, there, they’re (and its vs it’s): the homophones that betray your writing

Spellcheck is useless here, and that’s the whole problem. Type their when you meant there and the little red line never appears, because every wrong answer is also a real word.

So these slip through people who genuinely know better. And the reader who spots one in your covering letter doesn’t think “honest typo” – they quietly downgrade you to “didn’t bother to check”. Below are the rules, plus a five-second test you can run before you hit send so it never happens to you.

their, there, they’re: one sound, three jobs

Name the job each word is doing and the choice stops being a guess.

their = belonging to them

Possessive. Something belongs to a group – or to one person whose gender you’re leaving open.

“The neighbours repainted their fence at the weekend.”

“Whoever left their umbrella by the door can collect it from reception.”

there = a place (or a sentence-starter)

The location use is the easy one. Handy trick: the word here is hiding right inside it.

“Leave the parcel over there, next to the boots.”

The use that trips people is the one that announces existence: there is, there are, there was.

“There aren’t enough chairs for everyone.”

they’re = they are

That apostrophe is earning its keep – it’s standing in for the missing letter in they are. If you can’t unpack the word back into “they are” and still have a sentence, you’ve reached for the wrong one.

“They’re running late because the train was cancelled.”

Try it on something with all three. “___ going to love ___ new flat once ___ furniture arrives.” First gap: “they are going to love” works, so They’re. Second and third gaps are both ownership, so their twice. Finished: “They’re going to love their new flat once their furniture arrives.”

its vs it’s: the apostrophe that flips the meaning

This is the pair that catches confident writers, and the reason is almost a trap laid on purpose. Stick an apostrophe-s on nearly any noun and you get possession: the dog’s lead, Sara’s idea. So every instinct you’ve built tells you it’s must be the possessive form too.

It isn’t. Possessive pronouns refuse the apostrophe – nobody writes her’s or their’s – and its sits in exactly that club.

its = belonging to it

“The company lost its biggest client in March.”

“The cat arched its back at the vacuum cleaner.”

it’s = it is, or it has

Same logic as they’re: the apostrophe marks where letters dropped out.

“It’s colder than the forecast promised.” (it is)

“It’s been a long week.” (it has)

That second test is the quiet winner. His is a possessive with no apostrophe, so it behaves like its in every sentence. “The team celebrated ___ win.” Drop in his: “celebrated his win” reads fine, so it’s possessive – write its. Now “___ been a brilliant season.” Drop in his: “His been a brilliant season” is gibberish, so the word is really “it has been” – write it’s.

Why these slip through when you actually know the rules

You can recite everything above and still type the wrong one tomorrow. There’s a reason, and it isn’t that you forgot.

When you’re writing, your brain reaches for the sound and lets spelling tag along behind. Homophones sound identical, so the wrong spelling feels every bit as right in the moment you type it. The mistake only surfaces when you read with your eyes instead of your ear.

Which means the fix isn’t more grammar. It’s a habit: one slow pass where you go hunting for these specific pairs and run the swap test on each. A few seconds a word, and the most cringeworthy errors in written English stop reaching the reader.

Read it aloud, slowly

Saying “it is been a long week” out loud forces your mouth to trip over what your eyes glide past. Silent reading lets the brain autocorrect the page; your voice won’t let you.