Why are there so many homophones?

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English has too many homophones. I think we should re-invent the language and then teach the new language starting in preK.

What do you think?
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  • I agree
  • What is a homophone?
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Many word groups that are thought of as homophones are actually distinct words. Read this out loud and listen closely:

🔈 Pare a pair of pears.

👂 Did you hear the differences? Good.

So there’s no such thing as homophones. It’s just a cultural delusion.

😉
 
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Why aren’t you at your post?​

 
Is anybody going to discuss that guy’s haircut?

A New Hope has some very retro fashion choices.
 
Shh.
Their, they’re, there…
It will be all right. ❤️
 
Be grateful we don’t have to deal with Arabic – that language doesn’t record vowels. If English were the same, we’d see RD and we wouldn’t know if it was supposed to be raid, red, ride, rode, rude, rued . . . you get the picture. I’ll take English and its homophones.

D
 
Why are numbers so often engaged in homophony?

one, won
two, to, too (and tutu?)
four, for, fore
eight, ate

All powers of 2… Coincidence? 🧐
 
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I both agree and disagree. To me, there, they’re, and their are all said differently, but you’re and your sound exactly alike. Then again, where I live, heel and hill are near homophones.
 
Are homophones the opposite of heterophones? Is it a sin if a man uses a princess phone?

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Here are some ecclesiastical ones:

Mass - mass
Accidence - Accidents
Host- host- host
Rood - rude
Rail (n) - rail (vb)
Kneel - Neil
(Cheating a bit) Surplice - surplus
 
I did not know the word ‘rood’.

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christofirst said:
Are homophones the opposite of heterophones? Is it a sin if a man uses a princess phone?

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If it is on the 3rd Sunday of Advent, it is not a sin.

Otherwise, the Princess Phone is canonically forbidden for men.
 
You probably did without knowing it - think of Holyrood in Scotland
 
How about:

nine, nein (German for “no”)
bread, bred
see, sea
we, wee
cane, Cain
gate, gait
wait, weight
waist, waste
turn, tern
heron, Huron (the lake)
 
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