# Scent, cent, and sent are all pronounced identically, but mean wildly different things **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 13, 2015, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970 "2015-05-13T21:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/21 "2015-05-14T13:53:44Z")
All the words with the -ough combination are pronounced the same – or rather, they were when they entered the language. “ou” was pronounced something like “oo”; the “gh” was an attempt to replicated the phoneme – a guttural like the German “ach” or the Hebrew “Chanukah.” So the spelling is correct; people just stopped using the “gh” sound and started finding new pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/22 "2015-05-14T13:56:42Z")
You can also point to “marry,” “merry,” and “Mary,” which in some dialects are pronounced the same. In others, two of the three are the same. And in others (including my own), they’re three different words. So, if the words were spelled the way they were pronounced, some would write “Marry is marry.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/23 "2015-05-14T13:58:45Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > cent- seems to be slightly harder at the beginning > scent- seems to be slightly longer at the beginning > sent- is shortest with least emphasis at beginning For me, they are all exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/24 "2015-05-14T13:59:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **RealityChuck** > All the words with the -ough combination are pronounced the same – or rather, they were when they entered the language. “ou” was pronounced something like “oo”; the “gh” was an attempt to replicated the phoneme – a guttural like the German “ach” or the Hebrew “Chanukah.” > > So the spelling is correct; people just stopped using the “gh” sound and started finding new pronunciations. “The too-chhh ploo-chhhs throo-chhh the sloo-chhh.”? I dunno. 😃 (Seriously, I believe you; couldn’t resist!) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/25 "2015-05-14T15:01:17Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > cent- seems to be slightly harder at the beginning > scent- seems to be slightly longer at the beginning > sent- is shortest with least emphasis at beginning Is this a whoosh? Next you’ll say to, two and too sound different. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/26 "2015-05-14T15:32:27Z")
My favorite two examples. I was talking to a South African bishop and telling him about the time my I waited somewhere, starting at 1:58 and ending four minutes later. I added that my wife waited for the same length of time: “She waited from two to two to two two, too, Tutu!” And then there’s a lovely sentence that Stephen Pinker introduced me to: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. Which is to say, the buffalo living in Buffalo NY that are bullied by other buffalo living in Buffalo turn around and bully still more buffalo living in Buffalo. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/27 "2015-05-14T15:50:02Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > My favorite two examples. I was talking to a South African bishop and telling him about the time my I waited somewhere, starting at 1:58 and ending four minutes later. I added that my wife waited for the same length of time: “She waited from two to two to two two, too, Tutu!” > > And then there’s a lovely sentence that Stephen Pinker introduced me to: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. > > Which is to say, the buffalo living in Buffalo NY that are bullied by other buffalo living in Buffalo turn around and bully still more buffalo living in Buffalo. I tried sticking “bison” in there, had a good laugh doing so, but it doesn’t work as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/28 "2015-05-14T15:54:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I tried sticking “bison” in there, had a good laugh doing so, but it doesn’t work as well. 🙂 Bison bison Bison bison bison bison Bison bison! Heehee. Language nerd jokes! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/29 "2015-05-14T16:10:30Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Is this a whoosh? Next you’ll say to, two and too sound different. > > 🙂 Well, “to” _does_ get the vowel reduced quite often, at least in my accent. The “to” in “two to two” has a schwa in my dialect. (In a stressed position, though, it’s homophonous with the other two.) ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/30 "2015-05-14T16:34:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, “to” _does_ get the vowel reduced quite often, at least in my accent. The “to” in “two to two” has a schwa in my dialect. (In a stressed position, though, it’s homophonous with the other two.) One of the GPS apps on my phone used to pronounce “two” and “four” like they were “to” and “for” in unstressed position. “Take 170 south for tuh miles.” “Continue on Page Avenue for fer miles”. It’s been fixed. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/31 "2015-05-14T16:51:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Of all the things that could make a foreign language hard to learn, is the existence of homophones really all that high on the list? > > Down with homophonophobia! NOO! I am strangly attracted to people who are uncomfortable with words that sound alike but spell differently. I have homophonophobiaphilia. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/32 "2015-05-14T20:09:20Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > … > > Heehee. Language nerd jokes! Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/33 "2015-05-14T20:12:40Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Time flies like an arrow. > Fruit flies like a banana. One of my faves, along with what the frogs said to each other when the air was buzzing: Time’s sure fun when you’re having flies! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/34 "2015-05-14T22:49:32Z")
Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. - Groucho Marx ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/35 "2015-05-14T23:07:13Z")
Another three which are mixed up far too often: Cite Sight Site ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/36 "2015-05-14T23:34:59Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > How’s THIS for confusing: the word “slough.” I’d always thought it was pronounced “sluf” and it is, but not all that far from where I live there’s something called the “Sammamish Slough” and, apparently, THAT “Slough” is pronounced “Sloo.” I didn’t know that and I’m a native English speaker. Imagine what that’d be like for someone who isn’t! “Sluff” for “sloo” is a first for me. For the first time I can attach a date, to the hour, of a pronunciation. Oxford should have it so good. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/37 "2015-05-15T01:09:12Z")
There was a young poet from Slough Whose limericks earned him no dough He said "But I see That the letters agree And if that’s not enough then I’m through. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/38 "2015-05-15T01:31:47Z")
Air: Breathable gas Err: To do so is human Ere: Before E’er: At any time, poetically Heir: Scion Are: 100 square meters (what a hectare is 100 of) You: The second person Ewe: **Hal Briston** ’s girlfriend Yew: Wood for bow-making U: 21st letter ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/39 "2015-05-15T02:07:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Ewe: **Hal Briston** ’s girlfriend I don’t think his precise preference was ever stated. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/40 "2015-05-16T21:24:43Z")
Carat, carrot, karat, and caret all have different meanings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970.md?page=3)