homophone
noun

a word that is pronounced the same as another word but has a different meaning or spelling, or both:

The words “so”, "sow", and “sew” are examples of homophones.

Cambridge Dictionary

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ORIGIN

“Homophone” derives from the Greek homo- (ὁμο‑), “same”, and phōnḗ (φωνή), “voice, utterance”.

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MY CHILI WILL WARM YOU IN CHILLY CHILE

Homophones are a great source of confusion for beginners listening to English. There are over 400 including many common words. Here’s a small sample beginning with A, B, and C:

aid, aide
aisle, I’ll, isle
ate, eight
aye, eye, I
bald, balled
bases, basis, basses
bite, byte
boar, bore
bold, bowled
born, borne
borough, burro, burrow
cedar, seeder
ceiling, sealingcensor, sensor
cent, scent, sent
Chile, chili, chilly

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YOU KAY & YOU ESSAY

As homophones are all about pronunciation, expect some differences between UK and US speakers. For example, hostel and hostile, balm and bomb, metal and medal are homophonic in the US, but not in the UK.

Ask your British and American friends to read the following and and notice the differences (the US homophones are capitalised)

“When HAIRY HARRY asked MARY to MARRY him, she was MERRY knowing she could BURY her feelings for BARRY by floating onto the FERRY like a FAIRY.

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WHISPER THIS

Here’s a cute night-time message you can whisper to kids or your loved one just before lights out:

“Night night, knight”, said one knight to another knight, the other night. “Night night, knight”.

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HAVE A GIGGLE with a friend today, search for this on YouTube:

“I scream - you scream - we all scream for ice cream” by Harry Reser’s Syncopators,… HOMOPHONES from 1927.”

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Paul Smith