Buy, By, Bye
February 23, 2020 9:54 AM   Subscribe

 
I had one happen in conversation yesterday: Lichen/Lycan. The conversation topic was "what are the plants native to Alaska"?
posted by ishmael at 10:22 AM on February 23, 2020


was a little surprised to see regimen/regiment, after which was a little disappointed not to see tenet/tenant or cavalry/calvary, notwithstanding that these are not homophones.
posted by 20 year lurk at 10:40 AM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


This made me wonder what the word with the most homophones is. I came up with 4: right, write, wright, and rite, which do show up in the blog.
posted by TedW at 10:53 AM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


Than & Then
With an A – substance comparison.
With an E – time comparison.


Tragically, the people who most need to see this are the ones least likely to.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:54 AM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


I recently had a moment of miscommunication with someone where I was complaining about something and their response was "I don't like it as much as you do". "Why, why do you think I like it?" "I never said you did!"

Turns out, they had never heard of the word dislike. "I dislike it as much as you do" was their intended response. I didn't try to go into the alternative "I don't like it anymore than you do".

(Like, "I don't like it as much as you do" seems fine until you unpack the contraction, when it suddenly becomes clear what the error is.)
posted by hippybear at 11:00 AM on February 23, 2020 [3 favorites]


What about the opposite: words spelled the same but pronounced differently? E.g. bass (fish) vs. bass (musical note/instrument).
posted by e-man at 11:06 AM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


The illustrations alone would make this site appealing. That they come with-often witty–clarifying definitions makes it one the finest in single use websites.
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 11:26 AM on February 23, 2020


What about the opposite: words spelled the same but pronounced differently? E.g. bass (fish) vs. bass (musical note/instrument).

Yeah and what's with PRO-duce for vegetables vs pro-DUCE as in make or provide?
posted by Zedcaster at 11:27 AM on February 23, 2020 [3 favorites]


What about the opposite: words spelled the same but pronounced differently? E.g. bass (fish) vs. bass (musical note/instrument).

[cries in ESL]
posted by sukeban at 11:38 AM on February 23, 2020 [7 favorites]


What about the opposite: words spelled the same but pronounced differently? E.g. bass (fish) vs. bass (musical note/instrument).

INfluence (normal person), vs inFLUence (someone who has a tendency to lecture).
posted by ishmael at 11:48 AM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


From the Straight Dope message board:
Air: Breathable gas
Err: Make a mistake
Heir: Scion
Aire: A tune (as in, "Londonderry Aire")
Are: A unit of area
Ere: before
E'er: ever

youse
ewes
yews
use
u's
posted by MtDewd at 11:57 AM on February 23, 2020 [6 favorites]


it's always the other one
posted by Bwentman at 12:03 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


And if we're not just stuck with English, there's this (via Quora):

It's said by a Chinese author Li Ao that yì has the most homophones, totalling 205.

They are ( all below are pronounced yì):

乂 义 亿 弋 刈 艺 忆 艾 阣 仡 议 肊 伇 芅 亦 异 忔 屹 抑 坄 呓 劮 役 苅 佚
译 耴 杙 邑 枍 炈 易 衪 秇 诣 佾 呹 呭 驿 泆 怿 怈 绎 峄 浂 帟 帠 俋 弈 奕
疫 羿 昳 玴 轶 枻 食 貤 栧 欭 袣 益 谊 唈 浥 浳 挹 悒 垼 埸 埶 逸 勚 萟 殹
翊 翌 悥 豙 豛 異 訲 訳 隿 釴 羛 鈠 軼 骮 跇 詍 晹 敡 殔 棭 焲 蛡 鄓 湙 幆
嗌 溢 缢 兿 義 亄 睪 獈 竩 痬 意 詣 肄 裔 裛 駅 榏 瘗 膉 蜴 蓺 勩 廙 嫕 潩
億 鹝 鹢 毅 镒 瘞 槸 熠 熤 熼 篒 誼 黓 艗 燚 曀 殪 瘱 瞖 穓 鹥 螠 褹 縊 劓
薏 澺 噫 嬑 嶧 墿 圛 懌 憶 寱 翳 翼 臆 斁 歝 曎 燡 燱 檍 賹 貖 鮨 鎰 贀 镱
癔 藝 藙 繹 繶 豷 霬 鯣 鶂 鶃 饐 醷 醳 譯 議 蘙 瀷 囈 鐿 鷊 鷁 懿 襼 鷧 驛
鷾 鸃 虉 齸 讛
posted by MtDewd at 12:11 PM on February 23, 2020 [8 favorites]


Bwentman: I wanna see that card!
posted by Navelgazer at 12:33 PM on February 23, 2020


I have been digging around in the archives. Here's one from Dec 2011:
"I'm going to take all my capital out of the bank and spend it on a trip to our nation's capital, where I'll write an angrily misspelled protest sign in capital letters and hold it up in front of the Capitol."
posted by spamandkimchi at 1:29 PM on February 23, 2020 [2 favorites]


Buy, By, Bye... what, no Bi?
This has been going on ALMOST every week since March 2011, which makes it fit its title very well.
In fact, I must note that around FORTY years ago, during the first incarnation of "Wendell", I wrote a kindofnewsletter for funny radio people that I sent out every 7-10 days and appropriately called "Wendell's Weakly", typesetting the 'a' in the logo out of alignment to point out it was more weakly than weekly.
Homophones have been fun for about as long as homophobes have been NOT. Which just shows that near-homophones are dangerous and could make this blog run on forever.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:13 PM on February 23, 2020


MtDewd, if Chinese is being included, in the discussion, then the poem "Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den" (pinyin: Shī shì shí shī shǐ;) by Yuen Ren Chao deserves an honorable mention
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 2:29 PM on February 23, 2020 [6 favorites]


it's always the other one

This. I have found that about 80% of the time that the word “discreet” or “discrete” appears in print, it is where the writer meant to use “discrete” or “discreet.”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:57 PM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


was a little surprised to see regimen/regiment, after which was a little disappointed not to see tenet/tenant or cavalry/calvary, notwithstanding that these are not homophones.
--20 year lurk

It is one of the things I like about this site: it is called Homophones, Weakly--they are specifically defining the site as covering more than homophones.

I hate the opposite when sites get strict and pedantic and ban anything that doesn't fit the tight straightjacket of their title. You may get your cavalry yet.
posted by eye of newt at 6:18 PM on February 23, 2020


I wonder if they ever hit Japanese. Even with the subtle pitch accent it sometimes doesn't matter when the pitch change happens after the word. You can take any 2 or 3 morpheme word and find half a dozen different meanings.
posted by zengargoyle at 6:39 PM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


What about the opposite: words spelled the same but pronounced differently? E.g. bass (fish) vs. bass (musical note/instrument).

Those are called heteronyms, and I've always found them to be much more fun than homophones.


Alternate ALternit- the next choice; ALternait- switch back and forth

Buffet BUFFet- to pound or bump; booFAY- place where you serve yourself


Contract CONtract- an agreement; conTRACT- to shrink or to agree on a project

Incense INsens- burnt aromatic; inSENS- to make angry

to name a few.
posted by OHenryPacey at 7:48 PM on February 23, 2020 [5 favorites]


Those are called heteronyms, and I've always found them to be much more fun than homophones.

One that I made up in middle school and spent far too much time contemplating: "I reefuse to get rid of the rehfuse".
posted by satoshi at 8:11 PM on February 23, 2020


Those are called heteronyms, and I've always found them to be much more fun than homophones.

Thank you, I wondered if there was a technical name for them. Here's another one: desert (hot place) vs. desert (to run away).

#funwithwurds
posted by e-man at 10:05 PM on February 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


Yeah and what's with PRO-duce for vegetables vs pro-DUCE as in make or provide?

Here you go. It's a systematic feature of English morphology!
posted by aws17576 at 12:08 AM on February 24, 2020 [3 favorites]


Air: Breathable gas
Err: Make a mistake
Heir: Scion
Aire: A tune (as in, "Londonderry Aire")
Are: A unit of area
Ere: before
E'er: ever


Éire: Ireland.
posted by Dysk at 12:47 AM on February 24, 2020


(I also don't think err is homophonic with the rest on that list)
posted by Dysk at 12:48 AM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


Yes, err should be struck from the list. Also, "aire" I'm afraid - that's not the way it's spelt, it's "air".
posted by vincebowdren at 1:20 AM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]


Thanks for citing this site! I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to help a friend with past/passed. This should help!

Also... it reminded me to re-listen to Tom Wilson’s “The Homonym Song”
posted by LEGO Damashii at 3:01 AM on February 24, 2020


Eyre: a moralistic governess (also, apparently, an itinerant court)

Dysk and vincebowdren: for me, err is a homophone with the rest on that list. AmE/BrE divide?
posted by basalganglia at 4:09 AM on February 24, 2020


Dysk and vincebowdren: for me, err is a homophone with the rest on that list. AmE/BrE divide?

For me (British English, I guess) "err" rhymes with "purr" - in fact, it is just "purr" without the p. All the others rhyme with bear/bare.
posted by Dysk at 4:51 AM on February 24, 2020


How do you pronounce “err”? is a good article about this. (Apparently the pronunciation has wandered a bit.)
posted by taz at 5:11 AM on February 24, 2020 [3 favorites]


Here's another one: desert (hot place) vs. desert (to run away).

Also, "deserved thing," as in "just deserts" (I haven't yet checked the Weakly to see if they've done deserts vs. desserts).
posted by paperback version at 8:32 AM on February 24, 2020


FYI, there is a book version.
posted by FencingGal at 1:40 PM on February 24, 2020


For some reason I once fell in love with the word "tocsin" meaning a warning bell. I was disappointed that I couldn't put it into regular rotation, being a confusing homophone with "toxin".
posted by traveler_ at 2:23 PM on February 25, 2020


What about the opposite: words spelled the same but pronounced differently? E.g. bass (fish) vs. bass (musical note/instrument).

Those are called heteronyms, and I've always found them to be much more fun than homophones.



Also, homograph. From that page, homonym:homophone::homograph:heteronym which seems backwards logically, but then again, English.
posted by Marticus at 1:19 PM on February 26, 2020


Dysk and vincebowdren: for me, err is a homophone with the rest on that list. AmE/BrE divide?

I think you're right: I'm a british english speaker, and I hadn't even known that other variants had a different pronunciation.
posted by vincebowdren at 8:50 AM on February 29, 2020


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