Re: different letters, same sound, is a...?

Nicholas Bodley wrote:

> On a simpler, but related, topic, I have chosen to use
> "homophone" instead of "homonym" in commonplace situations when
> dealing with English. Perhaps mistakenly, I regard "homonym",
> considering linguistic roots, to be too pedantic and obscure, if
> slightly more inclusive.
>
> Richard Lederer, the popular verbivore (his term) is my
> authority.
>
> Of course, this then means that I need to define "homophone" as a
> courtesy whenever I use it... (IIrc, "phonein" in
> (transliterated) Greek means something like "to [make a] sound".
> (Sorry; I didn't study Greek.)

Sorry, why do *you* need to define "homophone"? That's on every good English
dictionary:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/91/H0259100.html

According to the American Heritage dictionary, however, "homophone" and
"homonym" are not synonyms, as homonyms are also *spelled* the same, while
homophones just sound the same:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/85/H0258500.html

_ Marco