# Scent, cent, and sent are all pronounced identically, but mean wildly different things

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/41 "2015-05-21T12:27:22Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> 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)

All sound different.  
Do you think they all sound the same? 😕

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**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scent-cent-and-sent-are-all-pronounced-identically-but-mean-wildly-different-things/719970/42 "2015-05-21T16:24:12Z")

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> [@Arch\_Trout](#):
>
> All sound different.  
> Do you think they all sound the same? 😕

Your profile says you’re in Scotland. Chronos is American. You guys probably don’t pronounce a lot of things the same.

Which illustrates why these sorts of conversations are often at least confusing and at worst useless.

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