What is the Difference Between There, Their and They’re?

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I wanted to open up this article with a clever, tongue in cheek sentence using all three versions of this homophone: words that are spelled differently, but pronounced the same, but decided just to get to the straight goods as someone browsing for a quick answer doesn’t care if it’s witty, they just care if it’s accurate.

There – refers to a location:

My kids constantly forget to flush the toilet. Maybe I should put a Post It note there to remind them.

I left my thesaurus over there, on the table.

There also refers to the existence of something:

There is a little lever on the side of the toilet that allows a person to do away with their solid waste.

There can also be made into various contractions; some more commonly used than others:

there is (there’s)

there are (there’re)

there would (there’d)

Their – references something belonging to another. It is used to denote ownership:

My kids need to remember to clean up their messes, unless they enjoy being referenced in Were You Wondering articles.

My kids will be cursing their mother once they realize they are being made examples of.

They’re is a contraction of the words “they are”:

They’re going to be so embarrassed when they realize I am talking about their unflushed poop.

Maybe now, my kids will remember to flush the toilet when they’re done using it.