I’m a little embarassed to ask, but…
What do you call words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Homophones? Do the following groups fit into that:
they’re; their; there
its; it’s
etc.
Or are those called something else?
You got it right. Althoug, at one time they were also called “homonyms.”
No, homonyms have the same spelling. Same word, same spelling, maybe pronounced the same, but with different meanings.
Unless you’re saying that at one time, a long time ago, it meant something different.
Main Entry: hom·onym
Pronunciation: 'hä-m&-"nim, 'hO-
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin homonymum, from Greek homOnymon, from neuter of homOnymos
Date: 1697
1 a : HOMOPHONE b : HOMOGRAPH c : one of two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning (as the noun quail and the verb quail)
2 : NAMESAKE
3 : a taxonomic designation rejected as invalid because the identical term has been used to designate another group of the same rank – compare SYNONYM
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. eg horse-hoarse; hair-hare, bear-bare. These words will sound the same no matter the accent.
Some words will sound alike only in particular accents, like the “writer-rider” pair in American English.
Homonyms are words that are spelt the same but have different meanings, or have different functions, like “record”-"
Allophones are different sounds that actually are variants of the same phoneme (basic unit of sound). eg tatters- the “t” and “tt” are pronouced differently but they are variants of the same sound.
Although I admit these do sound very similar, the AHD lists different pronunciations for these two words.
::jerking thumb upwards::
From m-w.com
Which leads to the question, “What do you call two words with different meanings (or at least different tenses of the same basic meaning) with identical spelling?” E.g.:
“You can lead a horse to water” vs. “Uranium decays to lead.”
“Do you read many ‘literary’ books?” “Yes, I just read Crime and Punishment last month.”
Words that have the same spelling but different pronunciations are homographs.
Polish nation
Polish the furniture