What do you call two words that sound the same, but have different meanings?
And the answer: homophones.
Two words that sound the same, but have different meanings, are considered homophones. For example, in the sentence, "He bought flour to bake bread, and put flowers in a vase," the words flour and flowers sound the same, but they're spelled differently and have different meanings.
Not all homophones are the same. Two words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings are a type of homophone called a homonym. For example, “knead” and “need” are homonyms as well as homophones.
Homophones can further be classified as homographs and heterographs. Homographs are words that are spelled the same way, could be pronounced differently, and have different meanings. "Time to take a bow," and "Can you tie this bow for me?" are examples of homographs. Words that are spelled differently and pronounced the same way (e.g., "flour" and "flower") are heterographs.
There are also heteronyms, which are words that are spelled the same, but pronounced differently and have different meanings. For example, "This sad movie is making him tear up" and "Tear up this document for me" are heteronyms.
Finally, then there are oronyms. These are phrases that are often grouped with homophones because the words in question sound the same, but have different meanings and are often not identical. “World peace” and “whirled peas” are examples of oronyms.
And now, a joke:
What did the chess piece say before bed?
Knight, knight.
