pole, poll

Pole or pole means a round post or pillar--like what a traffic signal or sign may be mounted on--or telephone wires may be strung on it--
The car hit the pole and knocked it down.
People staple signs to telephone poles.

Poll or poll ( rhymes with pole ) means to take a survey of people's opinions or ideas. Poll may refer to the survey itself or to the act of taking the poll--
The political party sponsored an opinion poll.
Someone stopped us to ask questions for a poll on the next election.
He intends to poll the voters, to see if they favor the proposed legislation.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"The town set up a poll to ask people their opinions on the new traffic poles."

Note--not to be confused with "Pole", meaning a person from Poland--always capitalized--
He was a Pole, and got homesick for kielbasa and sauerkraut.
Note a "pol" ( rhymes with doll ) is a career politician, usually meaning a local politician--
The old pol hasn't missed an election in more than 50 years.

lead, led, lead

Led or led ( rhymes with head) is the past tense (yesterday, or some time ago) form of "lead" ( rhymes with seed)--meaning to go before, show the way, or take charge--
He led the troops into battle.
The conductor led the orchestra.
Some people are not easily led.

Lead or lead is considered to be two words--
 The first ( rhymes with seed ) means to go before or show the way--
Lead the way!
"...and a little child shall lead them..."
The second ( rhymes with head ) means the metal used as a weight or at one time in pencils or for bullets--
In the western movie, the bad guy threatened to plug the hero full of lead.
People once made their own lead pencils.
Lead may be used to make weights.

Now that you know that you can say--
"The lieutenant led them into a rain of lead bullets."

Note--kryptonite is pretend, lead ( the metal ) is real--
Superman uses lead as a shield to protect him from kryptonite.
The dentists puts a lead apron on patients to protect them from radiation. 

heard, herd

Heard or heard is the past tense (yesterday, or some time ago) form of "hear", meaning what you do with your ears, such as detect or notice sound--
I heard our team won the game.
I would have heard the phone ring if anyone had called.
Have you heard of it?

Herd or herd ( rhymes with heard ) means a group of animals--cows, horses, goats, and some others--
Look, there's a herd of cows over there.
Large groups of people may develop a herd mentality.
Herd may be used as a verb ( action word)  that describes taking care of a herd of animals, as a shepherd or goatherd does, or a swineherd--
When he grows up, he wants to herd cows.

Now that you know that, you can say--
" I'm sure I heard a herd of cows mooing."

persecute, prosecute

Persecute or persecute means to unfairly or illegally hound or haunt someone, to injure, torture, or harass, particularly, but not exclusively, because of religion or belief--
It was a custom of the ancient Romans to persecute Christians by feeding then to the lions.
Many of our news organizations believe it is wrong to persecute people.

Prosecute or prosecute means to bring to trial in a criminal case--
The district attorney decided to prosecute the man for murder.
Only the state may prosecute criminals.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"To prosecute is not necessarily the same as to persecute."

Note--the different forms of these two words follow the same pattern--persecution, prosecution, persecutor, prosecutor, persecuted, prosecuted, persecuting, prosecuting, persecutes, prosecutes...

wait, weight, weighed

Wait or wait means to spend time until an expected event occurs, or the time spent expecting the event--
Wait until Mom gets home.
The kids can't wait until vacation!
Most people  hate to wait in line.
There is always a long wait in that store.

Weight or weight ( rhymes with wait ) is a measure of how heavy something is--
Dieters check their weight often.
The weight of his schoolbag was too much.
The Bureau of Weights and Measures checks that store scales are accurate.
Some athletes work out with weights.

Weighed or weighed is the past tense ( yesterday, or some time ago) form of "weigh"--to check how heavy something is--
The nurse weighed the baby to check on her health.
She weighed a lot more before she went on a diet.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"After dieting for so long, she couldn't wait to be weighed to see if her weight had gone down."

Note--not to be confused with "wade" ( rhymes with weighed ), meaning to walk through or in shallow water--
They like to wade in the creek when the weather is hot.

rise, rice, arise

Rise or rise ( pronounced rize ) means to get up or move up--
We rise at 6 every morning.
If it rains too much, the creek will rise.
If the yeast is old, the bread won't rise.
I don't like to see a rise in the price of groceries.
To get "a rise" out of someone is to make him or her display anger or annoyance--
That comment really got a rise out of him.
You're just trying to get a rise out of me.

Arise is an old-fashioned word for rise--
Arise and follow!
"I say unto thee, arise!"

Rice or rice ( rhymes with nice  ) is a commonly eaten grain--
Rice cakes are popular with dieters.
I like fried rice when we order Chinese food.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"I hope the price of rice doesn't rise."

Note--the past tense ( yesterday, or some time ago ) form of "rise" is "rose"--
He rose at 6 am.
They were up before the sun rose.
 The past tense of "arise" is "arose".
My love arose.
Not to be confused with "rose" the well-known flower.
My love is a rose.
Note #2--the third person singular ( he, she, it ) form of "rose" would be "he rose"--
 At 6 o'clock, he rose.
not to be confused with "heroes", as in sandwiches or doers of mighty deeds--
My heroes have always been cowboys.
Note # 3--"risen" is a past participle of "rose"--always used with a "helper" verb ( action word )--
He is risen.
He has risen.
Note # 4--yet more possible confusion--"rows", as in rows of chairs ( rhymes with "rose" )--
We arranged the chairs in neat rows.

bare, bear

Bare or bare means naked or without covering--
Don't let the children run around in their bare feet.
By November most of the trees are bare.
Men traditionally go to church with bare heads.

Bear or bear ( rhymes with bare ) is considered two words--one means the creature who lives in the woods or the zoo--
Don't feed the bears.
Smoky the Bear says to put out fires.
"I just want to be your teddy bear."
Bear or bear also means to endure something, or to carry as a load, literal or figurative--
They hired someone to bear their goods up the mountain.
Illness can be a heavy load to bear.
Bear it in mind.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"Bear in mind that it's easy to see a bear in the forest when the trees are bare."

Note--"barely" ( pronounced bare lee ) means almost not at all, or by only a very slim margin--
They just barely won the game.
She was barely 18 years old.
Not to be confused with barley ( pronounced bar lee ), which is a cereal grain--as in barley soup--
"Oats, peas beans and barley grow..."