# Words with most homophones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2011, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376 "2011-07-26T12:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/21 "2011-07-26T22:55:28Z")
site sight cite? ---
**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:** [July 26, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/22 "2011-07-26T23:01:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Nice, although I don’t recognise “aire”. I thought the tune was called “Londonderry Air”. I’ve seen both spellings for that usage, but I’ve never seen “aire” used for the gas. So I feel justified in calling it a homophone, though I’ll admit that’s one of the stretches. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/23 "2011-07-26T23:34:07Z")
> [@BDoors](#): > > Or strictly speaking, words with the most heterographs, i.e. groups of words that are pronounced the same but have different spellings and meanings. There is this set of four: > > new > knew > gnu > nu (Greek letter) > > all of which (in some common dialects of English) are pronounced “noo” (in other dialects some or all of them are pronounced “nyoo”). > > Any other examples? Add Yiddish “nu?” So?, What’s up? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/24 "2011-07-27T04:21:56Z")
Taught: past tense and past participle of verb to teach Taut: tightly drawn, tense Tort: actionable civil wrong Torte: type of cake ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/25 "2011-07-27T04:28:06Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Taught: past tense and past participle of verb to teach > Taut: tightly drawn, tense > Tort: actionable civil wrong > Torte: type of cake tot: a small child ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/26 "2011-07-27T04:34:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > tot: a small child Perhaps in your neck of the woods. Here ‘tot’ is not homophonic with the other four words. Its vowel is much shorter. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/27 "2011-07-27T04:41:04Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > tot: a small child or a small 'tater. How about bear - the animal bear - change direction bare - exposed, uncovered to two too flu flue flew poor pour paw (British English) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/28 "2011-07-27T06:32:27Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Are we allowed to cross over language boundaries?.. If we are, head for the hills, because I’ve been reading Finnegans Wake for 30 years. I think I could dig up a few…😉 ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/29 "2011-07-27T06:36:33Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Taught: past tense and past participle of verb to teach > Taut: tightly drawn, tense > Tort: actionable civil wrong > Torte: type of cake This is where non-rhotic dialects have an advantage. In my (rhotic) dialect, the first two are homophones and the last two are, but the two pairs are pronounced differently. And “tot” is pronounced differently yet. So you guys learn to pronounce your bloody Rs and we be having this nonsense 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/30 "2011-07-27T07:03:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And **Quartz** , in what dialect are “thew” and “phew” homophones? Few. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/31 "2011-07-27T08:41:30Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Are we allowed to cross over language boundaries? > > Driving on the highway, getting hungry, we see signs for a place with great frittatas… > > Aye, I eye āy, ai ail Ei, ai ay. > > āy - Arabic for ‘signs’ > ai - Chinese for ‘love’ > ail - French for ‘garlic’ > Ei - German for ‘egg’ > ai - Italian for ‘to the’ > ay - Turkish for ‘moon’. You forgot aj - Swedish for ‘ouch’. ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/32 "2011-07-27T09:35:46Z")
No love for There Their They’re? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/33 "2011-07-27T10:48:07Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > So you guys learn to pronounce your bloody Rs and we be having this nonsense 😉 Somehow the word **won’t** got dropped out of this sentence. Unfortunate. ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/34 "2011-07-27T15:45:38Z")
Pin (as in safety pin) Pin (as in pin your opponent) Pen (as in ball point) Pen (as in pig) Penn (as in Penn Jillette) Penn (as in Penn Station) PIN (as in the number you use at the ATM) ---
**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:** [July 27, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/35 "2011-07-27T17:47:41Z")
Are we counting words with the same spelling but separate origins as “homophones”? And in my dialect, “pen” and “pin” are completely different. And Penn Jillette and Penn Station probably have a common origin, anyway (Station certainly, and Jillette probably, ultimately deriving from the last name Penn). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/36 "2011-07-27T19:03:22Z")
> [@Oglomott](#): > > Pin (as in safety pin) > Pin (as in pin your opponent) > Pen (as in ball point) > Pen (as in pig) > Penn (as in Penn Jillette) > Penn (as in Penn Station) > PIN (as in the number you use at the ATM) Pin and pen are only homophones if you’re from New Zealand or someplace else that butchers the language. They also say "pincil’ for pencil, “did” for dead, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/37 "2011-07-27T20:05:14Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Pin and pen are only homophones if you’re from New Zealand or someplace else that butchers the language. They also say "pincil’ for pencil, “did” for dead, etc. [Pin-pen merger map.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pin-pen.svg) ---
**Author:** ![Oglomott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oglomott/32/3543_2.png) [@Oglomott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oglomott)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/38 "2011-07-27T20:53:41Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > [Pin-pen merger map.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pin-pen.svg) I admit I had no idea that such a map existed, or that anyone is keeping track of something like that. FWIW, I’m from an area outside where pin and pen are pronounced the same, although I still pronounce them the same. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/39 "2011-07-27T21:31:03Z")
your you’re yore ---
**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:** [July 27, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/40 "2011-07-27T22:33:20Z")
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