HOMOPHONE

homophone

(noun) two words are homophones if they are pronounced the same way but differ in meaning or spelling or both (e.g. bare and bear)

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

homophone (plural homophones)

A word which is pronounced the same as another word but differs in spelling or meaning or origin.

A letter or group of letters which are pronounced the same as another letter or group of letters.

Usage notes

A homophone is a type of homonym in the loose sense of that term (a word which sounds or is spelled the same as another). (The strict sense of homonym is a word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word.) A homograph is a word with the same spelling as another but a completely unrelated meaning. Homographs are not necessarily homophones.

Source: Wiktionary

Hom"o*phone, n. Etym: [Cf. F. homophone. See Homophonous.]

1. A letter or character which expresses a like sound with another. Gliddon.

2. A word having the same sound as another, but differing from it in meaning and usually in spelling; as, all and awl; bare and bear; rite, write, right, and wright.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition