Homophone

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A homophone may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of 'rise'), or differently, such as carat, and carrot, or to, two, and too. The term 'homophone' may also apply to units longer or shorter than words, such as phrases, letters, or groups of letters which are pronounced the same as another phrase, letter, or group of letters. Any unit with this property is said to be 'homophonous'. A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same (to varying extent) as another word but differs in meaning. A homophone may also differ in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of 'rise'), or differently, such as carat, and carrot, or to, two, and too. The term 'homophone' may also apply to units longer or shorter than words, such as phrases, letters, or groups of letters which are pronounced the same as another phrase, letter, or group of letters. Any unit with this property is said to be 'homophonous'. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms. Homophones that are spelled differently are also called heterographs. 'Homophone' derives from the Greek homo-  (ὁμο‑), 'same', and phōnḗ (φωνή), 'voice, utterance'. Homophones are often used to create puns and to deceive the reader (as in crossword puzzles) or to suggest multiple meanings. The last usage is common in poetry and creative literature. An example of this is seen in Dylan Thomas's radio play Under Milk Wood: 'The shops in mourning' where mourning can be heard as mourning or morning. Another vivid example is Thomas Hood's use of 'birth' and 'berth' and 'told' and 'toll'd' (tolled) in his poem 'Faithless Sally Brown': In some accents, various sounds have merged in that they are no longer distinctive, and thus words that differ only by those sounds in an accent that maintains the distinction (a minimal pair) are homophonous in the accent with the merger. Some examples from English are: