In all languages there are pairs of words whose meanings are totally different but have the same sound. This phenomenon occurs between two homophone words. There are numerous examples that can illustrate this circumstance of language, such as hasta and antler, baron and male, beautiful and hair, shortcut and hatajo, corporal and cavo and many others.
If we look at the etymology of homophone, this word comes from two Greek words: homo, which means equal, and phonos, which means sound.
Homonymy
The fact that two words are homophones must be framed within a general phenomenon of language, homonymy
The homonymous words are those that have a different form and meaning and, at the same time, a different etymology in the past. However, despite their differences, these words have evolved in such a way that they have a very similar or equal shape. In fact, homonym means the same words.
Homonymy manifests itself in two different ways: between homophone words (as we have pointed out above) and between homograph words. Homograph words are those that are written and pronounced in the same way, as is the case with the following pairs of words: near as an adverb or near as a fence, salt as potassium chloride and salt from the verb to leave, lime as a tool or lime like fruit, etc.
The homophone word problem illustrated with some examples
Homograph words are not particularly problematic, as they are spelled exactly the same and it is only necessary to know their different meanings. On the other hand, homophone words do cause some problems, especially spelling problems.
The preposition a and ha of the verb have are two words that are sometimes confused in their spelling and the reason for the confusion lies in their identical sound. The same happens with hasta and asta (the first is a preposition and the second is the horn of some animals), made and echo (it is written with h when it is from the verb to do and without h when it is synonymous with throw) or the case of leaf through and glance (goes with h if it is leaves and without h when it is equivalent to take a look).
These examples remind us that knowledge of the spelling rules is key to avoiding possible typos. The most common are those related to h, but also to g and j (for example, an ajito is the bulb of a plant and agito is the present tense of the verb to agitate), with ll and y (for example, stream from the verb to roll and stream understood as a stream of water).
Photos: iStock - sorbetto / Yuri
