What is a homophone?
A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and often a different spelling, such as there, their and they're, or to, too and two.
English has many homophones because of its mixed history, borrowing words from Old English, French, Latin and other languages, and because pronunciation changed over time while spelling did not. Common examples include flower and flour, knight and night, sea and see, right and write, and bear and bare.
Homophones are a common source of spelling mistakes, because spell-checkers do not always catch them. A sentence like Their going too the store is spelled correctly word by word but uses the wrong words. Context helps readers and listeners know which meaning is intended.
Related terms
Homographs are words spelled the same but with different meanings, and sometimes different pronunciations, like lead, the metal, and lead, to guide. Homonyms can mean words that are both spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings, like bat, the animal, and bat, the sports equipment.
Did You Know?
Homophones are the basis of many puns and jokes, such as: Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field.