A while back my sister called me with this question:
Can you name the three sets of three words each that are pronounced the same but begin with different letters. For example, write and right are two words with this property.
After a while I realized there are in fact five sets of three words each in the English language with this property.
Can you name them?
Would
their, there, and they’re count?
Sadly not.
Though spelled differently and pronounced the same it is that pesky first initial letter that has to be different in all three words.
AudreyK has, BTW, pegged very nicely the three sets that my sister had to offer as the solution.
cat/khat/qat (but k. and q. are only variant spellings of the same word)
cay/key/quay (but pronunciations of c. and q. vary)
ewes/use/yews
gnap/knap/nap (but gnap=bite isn’t a common word)
Outstanding, you bookworm, you!
Bibliophage, I might have specified common English words only, but for me those are the only ones that provide the most fun.
And as for those troglodytes who insist on saying kway for quay or kay for cay I fart in their general direction…
Nice work. As a relative newbie (Relative? Complete!) I should know the difficult lasts but a few posts. The indecipherable can be up here for hours ;).
djinn/jinn/gin