Homophone
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A homophone is one of two or more words that are pronounced the same way, but differ in spelling, meaning, or both. [1] An example of homophones would be the words "tide" and "tied". The word is derived from the Greek, meaning "same sound". The word was first used in English in 1843. [2]
It is fairly easy to distinguish between most homophones in context. There are, however, many which do cause confusion, due to a combination of identical pronunciation and similar spelling, for example: "principle" and "principal"; "whether" and "weather"; "stationery" and "stationary"; "their", "there" and "they're"; "to", "too" and "two".
External Links
- List of English Homophones