With an homophone-type clue you are looking for a word that when spoken sounds like another word.

Words that sound similar but mean different things are called homophones. For example the words deer and dear are homophones, as are the words read and reed.

Here is a typical homophone-type clue

Told about female deer's money (5)

These clues generally consist of three parts:

1. The definition. This is the solution you are looking for, Money in the case above.
2. A homophone "indicator" - This is a word (or words) that signal to the solver that the clue is in fact a homophone-type clue. Because homophone clues are about the sounds of things indicators tend to be words that convey something being heard, like Told about above.
3. A clue to the word or words that, when said out loud, could also be heard as the solution word. In this case it is female deer.

In the above clue a doe is a female deer. When you say it out loud, doe could also be dough, which is a synonym of money.

Other homphone indicators are words like "I/We hear" or "reported".

Now try this clue:

If you are stumped, give it to the machine!