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Homophone

Sound
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning

Detailed Definition
Homophone refers to two or more words that sound identical when spoken but have different meanings, spellings, or origins, such as “pair” and “pear” or “to,” “too,” and “two”; in poetry, homophones can be used deliberately for punning, wordplay, or double meaning, leading to humor, irony, or layered interpretation, and they illustrate how sound and sense intertwine within poetic language.
Example
Example in poetry:
Homophone|"Night" and "knight" sounding identical; Words with same pronunciation, different meaning; "Their," "there," "they're" distinctions; Sound-alike creating pun potential
Additional Notes
Words sounding alike but spelled differently. "There/their/they're," "to/too/two." Sound-based wordplay. Related: homograph, pun. Study: homophones in rhyme—rich rhyme vs. identical rhyme debate.
Also Known As
Sound-alike word Same-sound word Identical-sounding term
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