You searched for: “homophone”
homonym, homophone, homograph, heteronym
homonym (HAHM uh nim", HOH muh nim") (noun)
A word which is identical with another one in pronunciation, but differing from it in spelling and meaning: The word pairs "fair, fare" and "read, reed" are each an example of a homonym.
homophone (HAHM uh fohn", HOH muh fohn") (noun)
A word with the "same sound" as another one, is etymologically more precise and is less ambiguous in meaning than the reference "homonym": The words "him" and "hymn" are examples of homophones.
homograph (HAHM uh grahf, HOH muh graf") (noun)
A word that is identical with another one in spelling, but is different from it in origin and meaning, and sometimes in pronunciation: The words "bass" referring to a fish, and "bass" referring to the quality of the male voice, are examples of homographs.
heteronym (HET uhr uh nim") (noun)
A word with an identical spelling as another one but with different pronunciations and meanings: The word "row" is an example of a heteronym; such as, "row" meaning objects in a line and "row" meaning a quarrel or fight.

Whenever Laura is stumped about a definition for a confusing-word group, she checks the online dictionary because it is precise and clear; for example, homonym and homophone refer to words that have similar definitions, but the term homophone is more precise.

Two other words are homograph and heteronym which include spellings that may be the same; however, the definitions are very different.

This entry is located in the following units: Confusing Words Clarified: Group H; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 4) homo-, hom- + (page 5)
homophone, homophonous
1. One of two or more words pronounced alike ("sound-alikes") but different in meaning or derivation and spelling (as all and awl; to, too, and two; rite, write, right, and wright; as well as, cite, sight, and site); also called a homonym.
2. A character or group of characters pronounced the same as another character or group.
This entry is located in the following units: homo-, hom- + (page 6) phon-, phono-, -phone, -phonia, -phonic, -phonetic, -phonous, -phonically, -phonetically, -phony + (page 6)