# 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:** 5
**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:** [August 5, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/81 "2012-08-05T03:27:54Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > A lot of the preceding are not homophones. > > bar (forbid) > bar (place to drink alcoholic beverages) > bar (legal) > bar (unit of pressure) > bar (metal rod) > > [snip] bar-[number] English horserace betting bar-2 and bar-12 [call out of bet in craps] h-bar [pronunciation of Planck Constant/2\*(ħ)]\* barre [in ballet] “bar” [the word itself–kind of meta meta there] bar [a stroke through a symbol] bar [what you put your feet on in a bar] That’s all I came up with. These I simply stole from Wiki: [Bar (law)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28law%29), in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession [ul] [li][Bar examination](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_examination), an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction[/li][li][Bar association](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_association), a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members;[/li][/ul] [Bar (computer science)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28computer_science%29), a metasyntactic variable, like _foo_ [ul] [li][Bar (tropical cyclone)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28tropical_cyclone%29), a layer of dark cloud near the horizon[/li][li][Bar (unit)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28unit%29), a unit of pressure defined as 100 kilopascals[/li][li][BAR domain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAR_domain), a protein domain[/li][li][Base Address Register](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Address_Register), a concept in computer hardware design[/li][li][Bar (landform)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28landform%29), another term for the landform known as a shoal[/li][li][Bar (river morphology)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28river_morphology%29), an elevated region of sand or gravel deposited by the flow of a river[/li][li]Bar, a notation used in [X-bar theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-bar_theory) in linguistics[/li][/ul] [Bar (law)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28law%29), in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession [Bar examination](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_examination), an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction [ul] [li][Bar association](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_association), a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both[/li][/ul] \*\* Science and computing\*\* [ul] [li][Bar (computer science)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28computer_science%29), a metasyntactic variable, like _foo_[/li][li][Bar (tropical cyclone)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28tropical_cyclone%29), a layer of dark cloud near the horizon[/li][li][Bar (unit)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28unit%29), a unit of pressure defined as 100 kilopascals[/li][li][BAR domain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAR_domain), a protein domain[/li][li][Base Address Register](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_Address_Register), a concept in computer hardware design[/li][li][Bar (landform)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28landform%29), another term for the landform known as a shoal[/li][li][Bar (river morphology)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28river_morphology%29), an elevated region of sand or gravel deposited by the flow of a river[/li][li]Bar, a notation used in [X-bar theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-bar_theory) in linguistics[/li][/ul] [ul] [li][Bar (river)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_%28river%29), France[/li][li][Bar, Corrèze](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar,_Corr%C3%A8ze), France[/li][li][Bar, Meuse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar,_Meuse), France, former seat of the Counts and Dukes of Bar[/li][li][Bar, Razavi Khorasan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar,_Razavi_Khorasan), Iran[/li][li][Bar, Montenegro](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar,_Montenegro), a coastal town in Montenegro[/li][li][Bar, Tibet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar,_Tibet)[/li][li][Bar, Ukraine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar,_Ukraine)[/li][li][Bár](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1r), Hungary[/li][li]Bar, a historic duchy of both the Holy Roman Empire and the crown of France; see [Counts and Dukes of Bar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_and_Dukes_of_Bar)[/li][/ul] Plus a whole bunch of names of Israeli’s. (“Bar” Aramaic for “son of.”) ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/82 "2012-08-05T03:35:48Z")
fair (good looking) fair (unbiased) fair (commercial gathering) fare (fee) fare (experience? e.g. to fare nicely/poorly) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/83 "2012-08-05T03:37:29Z")
[Run](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/run?s=t) has 150 definitions, not including use in idiomatic or verb phrases. I’ve had dictionaries in which a full page and a half was dedicated to run. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/84 "2012-08-05T03:39:31Z")
die (singular of dice) die (cease living) die (machine tool) dye (coloring agent) ---
**Author:** ![JD\_1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JD\_1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JD_1000)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/85 "2013-09-05T00:31:05Z")
raise raze rays plural of ray ray’s belonging to a ray (e.g a ray’s phase) pretty darn close: race maybe: Res multiple Re notes (from Solfège: Do Re Mi, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/86 "2013-09-05T07:14:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. I think “Londonderry Aire” is simply an erroneous spelling of “Londonderry Air”. Google treats it as such, and after looking at several online dictionaries I cannot find any that give a relevant definition of “aire”, whereas “air” most certainly can mean a melody (cf. “air on a g string”) - but this is, I think, quite clearly derivative of “air” as the gas mixture that comprises the atmosphere, and which carries sounds, and so not really a different word. (Google does find a few examples of “Londonderry Aire” if you insist on searching for that form, but that is no evidence that it is not a spelling mistake or malapropism.) “Aire” is a word. It is the name of a river in the north of England (its valley is where airedale terriers come from), and, also, according to Wiktionary, an Estonian female name, but presumably proper nouns do not count. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/87 "2013-09-05T08:33:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The most I know of is “air”, though some of them are a bit of a stretch: > > Air: Breathable gas > Err: Make a mistake > Heir: Scion > Aire: A tune (as in, “Londonderry Aire”) > Are: A unit of area equal to 100 square meters (it’s what a hectare is 100 of). Also: - Ere: Before (poetic) E’er: Ever (poetic) Eyre: The circuit travelled by an itinerant judge in medieval times Ayre: A shingle beach If we’re allowing proper nouns, there’s also: - Ayr: Town in south-western Scotland Ayer: Town in northern Massachussets Aire: Various rivers in England, Australia, France and Switzerland ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/88 "2013-09-05T09:20:10Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Quite. When Mick says “Keith”, that’s his actual Dartford upbringing. When he’s says “Keef”, he’s putting on a Cockney (“Estuary”) accent, as has been his wont over the decades. Not exactly. Dartford is on the estuary and Estuary English is the usual dialect there. However, Mick was posh, so was also capable of speaking RP. Both are his real native dialects. In Wales: Here Hear Ear Year Plus, I think, though someone correct me if I’m wrong: You’re Your Yore ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/89 "2013-09-05T11:04:54Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > … and, also, according to Wiktionary, an Estonian female name … But in that case it has two syllables: _ai-reh_. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/90 "2013-09-05T11:36:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > However, there are some places where those two sounds have merged. But then that’d just mean that “Ur” and “er” were added to the list, rather than “err” being removed. Here, you run into a number of dialect conflicts. In the US, the lion’s share of speakers pronounce “err” exactly like “air”. But “er”, synonym to “um” is a non-rhotic spelling that may work in Britain but not in a rhotic dialect – in US, the same word is more often spelled “uh”, at least by the native rhotics (I think there is still a sizable non-rhotic contingent in Massachusetts and Alabama). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/91 "2013-09-05T11:50:26Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > But in that case it has two syllables: _ai-reh_. OK. The British river is pronounced like the stuff in the atmosphere, though. ---
**Author:** ![fanganga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fanganga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fanganga)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/92 "2013-09-05T12:26:38Z")
If we’re allowing proper nouns, then there’s Ayr - I can’t get my head around the homophony of err, though - do people who pronounce err and air the same also find bed and bade homophonous? ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/93 "2013-09-05T13:32:50Z")
Late to the party, but could I add Fish Fiche Phish Ghoti Zombies might like fish, I’ve heard it’s brain food! ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/94 "2013-09-05T15:15:06Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I believe “err” is pronounced more like “ur”, is it not? It’s pronounced both ways. I always thought that “ur” was more historically correct, as it’s the pronunciation I most often hear from overeducated classics types. > [@Johanna](#): > > Are we allowed to cross over language boundaries? Only in the Foreign category! But you get extra points. 🙂 > [@BDoors](#): > > People can post whatever they like of course, but I was really after homophones that are spelt differently, i.e. heterographs. Those are much more easily counted. The argument on such lists would be over whether they’re pronounced the same, and the answer should be “yes” if there’s any significant population that does so. > [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > I can’t recall hearing anyone pronounce pen and pin in the same way. Would your pronunciation of both match the way I say pin, the way I say pen, or something else? In NZ, it’s a lot like how I pronounce “pin”, but still different, since it’s an NZ accent and I’m from Michigan. Closer to “peen” than my “pin” is, but closer to my “pin” than my “peen” is. No puns, please. > [@septimus](#): > > I hope it’s not egregious hijack to mention that Thai has many homophones to the untrained foreigner ear. I was trying to learn the correct pronunciation of my friend’s Vietnamese name, “Nguyen”, which we normally say as “Win”. The closest I got, she said “No, that man who live on mountain.” > [@AWB](#): > > It’s not “er”, which is an interjection meaning hesitation. “Err” means to make a mistake: “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Right, but a lot of people prunounce both as “ur”. > [@jtur88](#): > > There are a few fanciful constructions of feasible words, with pairs of homophones that do not share any letters in common: > > Coffee / Kauphy > > Quays / Keeze Extra points! Except that I’ve never seen those other two words. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/95 "2013-09-05T16:14:55Z")
Since this has been resuscitated, I was recently thinking of one that includes proper names. Bear, grizzly Bare, Bobby, country singer Baer, Max, boxer Bayer aspirin Bexar County, Texas Behr paint Bair, Doug. baseball player Berr, Henri, French philosopher Beir, Fred, TV character actor Behar, Sasha, British actress Boehr, Maria, Canadian fashion model Bert, commune in Aller, France Ber, Asian fruit = jujube ---
**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:** [September 5, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/96 "2013-09-05T16:52:47Z")
I pronounce “Bayer”, as in aspirin, with two distinct syllables. And I’m not certain about the correct pronunciation, but I would put a detectable aspiration in the ones with an H. It’s also way too easy to include proper nouns. ---
**Author:** ![tarnation\_eudemonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c77e96/32.png) [@tarnation\_eudemonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarnation_eudemonia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/97 "2013-09-05T19:41:07Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Ere: before > E’er: ever Ayr - a town in Scotland ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/98 "2013-09-06T15:53:29Z")
Regarding “pin” and “pin”, here in NC I have a friend who (to my Yankee ear) says the two words the same, but also (to my ear) gives both words two syllables: “pee-in”. She manages to say my name (Jeff) with three syllables: “Jee-yay-eff”. Go figure! She sounds a lot like Paula Deen, except never uses the N-word. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/99 "2013-09-06T16:03:17Z")
Sue: name sue: legal action Sioux: Indians Sou: french coin Sault (St. Marie): City ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376/100 "2013-09-06T19:39:34Z")
key - used to unlock or decode quay - dock chi - mystic energy used in martial arts qi - also mystic energy, this time a term from Chinese traditional medicine kee - kilogram abbreviation (first syllable) kie - cattle/kine although really only the first is a general use word. The others are either rare, only partially adopted into English, slangy or archaic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-with-most-homophones/590376.md?page=6)