Homophones
Nick Straguzzi
As you know, homophones are two words with different spellings and meanings,
but which are pronounced the same. "Ate" and "eight" are one example.
"To", "two", and "too" can be considered triple homophones. There are a
surprising number of these in English -- "rite", "right", and "write" are
another example, and "pour", "poor", and "pore" for a third.
Now the question: how many sets of quadruple homophones can you name? That
would be four reasonably common words spelled differently but pronounced the
same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
or very uncommon words).
Good luck. If you post your answer to RGT, please give a "spoiler" warning.
Thanks,
Nick
|---------------------------------------------------------------------
| Nick Straguzzi |
| Mullica Hill, NJ | "Got no use for the tricks of modern times"
+---------------------+ -- Al Stewart
| nstra...@snip.net |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
Damian Conway
>Now the question: how many sets of quadruple homophones can you name? That
>would be four reasonably common words spelled differently but pronounced the
>same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
>or very uncommon words).
The answers to this will vary slightly due to regional pronunciations and
what words people consider to be obscure, but here are a few off the top
off my head (in Aussie English):
wear, where, we're, ware
poor, pour, pore, paw
air, heir, ere, are (as in hectare)
Damian, Damien, Damyan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
who: Damian Conway email: dam...@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au
where: Dept. Computer Science phone: +61-3-565-5184
Monash University fax: +61-3-565-5146
Clayton 3168 quote: "A pessimist is never disappointed."
AUSTRALIA
Romeo Arenzana
How about for, four, fore, ...nope
Pill, peel, peal, ...nope
Sea, see, c, si!
Pick, peek, peak, ...nope
Sick, seek, sikh, ...I'm getting sick.
--
I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar.
David L. Pelovitz
: Here's a classic to mull over next time you're stuck in traffic.
:
: Now the question: how many sets of quadruple homophones can you name? That
: same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
: or very uncommon words).
How about carrot, carat, karat, and caret?
David Pelovitz - dqp...@is4.nyu.edu
Charles Blake
Nick Straguzzi wrote:
>
> Here's a classic to mull over next time you're stuck in traffic.
>
> but which are pronounced the same. "Ate" and "eight" are one example.
>
> "To", "two", and "too" can be considered triple homophones. There are a
> surprising number of these in English -- "rite", "right", and "write" are
> another example, and "pour", "poor", and "pore" for a third.
>
> would be four reasonably common words spelled differently but pronounced the
> same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
> or very uncommon words).
>
Here's a quartet that leaps to mind: "bore" "boar" "boor" and "Boer." I
don't know if that's the one you're looking for, but I doubt it's an
exclusive list.
Charles Blake
Charles Blake wrote:
>
> Nick Straguzzi wrote:
> >
> > Now the question: how many sets of quadruple homophones can you name? That
> > would be four reasonably common words spelled differently but pronounced the
> > same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
> > or very uncommon words).
> >
Here are a couple more, if you'll allow for a liberal interpretaion of
the correct pronounciations.
Sees, seize, seas, and cees (as in "How many cees did you get on your
report card, Timmy?)
raise, rays, raze, and res (the latter being a common Latin word meaning
thing or case)
JAPerry
rite
right
write
wright (one that constructs)
Jim Perry
Nick Straguzzi
>same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
>or very uncommon words).
I've been swamped with E-Mail messages to the effect of "Are you kidding?
There are PLENTY of quadruple homophones." I've also been swamped with a
nearly equal number of incorrect answers. I guess we need a few more ground
rules.
1) Proper names are not allowed. Many people have answered
rite/right/write/Wright. Others have tried using Eire or Ayre.
2) Foreign words are not allowed. It's hard to say these days what's a
foreign word and what's not, but I don't think "si" qualifies. Others have
tried the French "por" or the German "herr" (which isn't properly pronounced
"air" anyway since the "h" is voiced and the "r" is rolling.)
3) Single-letter words are not allowed, except maybe "I" or "a". A few people
have come up with quads using "c" and "t" as words.
4) Obsolete or highly unusual words are not allowed. That's part of the
original conditions -- reasonably common words only.
5) Alternate spellings do not count. In particular, "aire" and "air" are the
same word.
6) I live in a region where "err" and "air" are pronounced very differently.
(As you can probably tell, a lot of respondants have tried various variations
on "air".) However, since so many people insist they are pronounced the same,
I guess I'll concede the point. So let's state here, formally, that a valid
quad is: air/err/ere/heir
7) No matter where you live, "where" and "ware" are ***NOT*** homophones.
There's an "h" in "where", and it's voiced if you're pronouncing it correctly.
I admit that my dictionary gives about eight different pronounciations for
the word and the last two do not include the voiced "h". Tough. The contest
judge decrees that three generations of lazy speakers doth not a proper
pronounciation make. :-)
So far, three sets of quads have passed the acid test. One is "air", given
above. I'll post the other two, plus any others, in a couple of days.
Nick Straguzzi
nstra...@mail.snip.net (Nick Straguzzi) wrote:
>>How many sets of quadruple homophones can you name? That
>>would be four reasonably common words spelled differently but pronounced the
>>same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
>>or very uncommon words).
OK, I give up. I guess this wasn't such a good question because regional
dialects and pronounciations are so varied. Three people wrote this afternoon
claiming that "where" and "ware" are most DEFINITELY homophones where they
come from, and my tirade about the "voiced h" was silly, etc., etc.
So, here are the (as far as I know) only six sets of common, non-foreign,
non-proper-name, non-obsolete, quadruple homophones in English. Thanks to
everyone who responded.
SPOILER FOLLOWS
air / heir / ere / err (with grave misgivings about "err" :-) )
doo / due / do / dew
roes / rose / rhos / rows ("rho" as in the Greek letter)
rite / right / write / wright (a "wright" is a worker; e.g. "shipwright")
seas / sees / sieze / cees
carrot / caret / karat / carat (karat refers to gold, carat to gems)
Feel free to post any others.
Nick
PS -- If you accept e'er, the poetic contraction of "ever", you have a
quintuple homophone.
Amy Smith
> Now the question: how many sets of quadruple homophones can you name?
air e'er ere err heir
ceil ciel seal seel
cere sear seer sere
cite cyte sight site
Some of the words aren't as common but they are quadruple homophones.
Amy Smith
dew do doux due
you yew ewe yu
praise prase prays preys
to too tew too
Amy Smith
>
> >How many sets of quadruple homophones can you name? That
> >would be four reasonably common words spelled differently but pronounced the
> >same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
> >or very uncommon words).
some that I came up with:
ceil/ciel/seal/seel
cere/sear/seer/sere
to/too/tew/two
BTW, would you also add e'er to air/ere/err/heir?
Amy Smith
John Thornton
: I've been swamped with E-Mail messages to the effect of "Are you kidding?
: There are PLENTY of quadruple homophones." I've also been swamped with a
: nearly equal number of incorrect answers. I guess we need a few more
: ground rules.
: 1) Proper names are not allowed. Many people have answered
: rite/right/write/Wright. Others have tried using Eire or Ayre.
"wright" is not necessarily a proper name. It is defined in Webster
as one who makes or constructs. While it can be a proper name, it is
also a plain word. So the "rite/write/right/wright" quad DOES qualify.
: 4) Obsolete or highly unusual words are not allowed. That's part of the
: original conditions -- reasonably common words only.
This rule is rather vague. Do you mean words in the dictionary
with "obs." near them? What constitutes "reasonably common"?
John Thornton
jth...@fas.harvard.edu
Erland Sommarskog
Nick Straguzzi (nstra...@mail.snip.net) writes:
>7) No matter where you live, "where" and "ware" are ***NOT*** homophones.
>There's an "h" in "where", and it's voiced if you're pronouncing it
>correctly.
Not really. Old English [hw] remains in several dialects of English,
but is gone in many other of them. I don't know about American dialects,
but it's not included in Received Pronounciation, the "correct" way to
speak British English, and which is taught to us foreigners. So I pro-
nounce "where" and "ware" exactly the same.
Then again, Nick gave the case of dew/doo/due/do which are not homophones
in R.P.
In any case, the last time this come up, some one dug up a FAQ giving
a nonette with air/err/heir/e'er and five more.
--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, som...@algonet.se
F=F6r =F6vrigt anser jag att QP b=F6r f=F6rst=F6ras.
jtas...@gmail.com
> Here's a classic to mull over next time you're stuck in traffic.
>
> As you know, homophones are two words with different spellings and meanings,
> but which are pronounced the same. "Ate" and "eight" are one example.
>
> "To", "two", and "too" can be considered triple homophones. There are a
> surprising number of these in English -- "rite", "right", and "write" are
> another example, and "pour", "poor", and "pore" for a third.
>
> same. I've read that there's only one such set in English (barring obsolete
> or very uncommon words).
>
>
> Nick
I just stumbled across this post. Word games & puzzles are a family favorite, and my family has come up with two examples of quadruple homophones over the course of time:
metal, mettle, medal, meddle
carrot, carat, caret, karat.
Chris F.A. Johnson
...
> metal, mettle, medal, meddle
is not pronounced 'meddle'.
> carrot, carat, caret, karat.
--
Chris F.A. Johnson