Fun With Homophones

Native English speakers are generally familiar with many of the common homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently and often have radically different meanings:

To, Too, and Two

There, Their, and They're
Your, You're, and Yore

Raze and Raise - This pair has the distinction of being homophones AND antonyms!

When I was in elementary school, we were taught that these were homonyms, but some definitions require homonyms to have both the same pronounciation (that is, be homophones) but also have the same spelling (and thus be homographs).  An example of such is pole (a long round support), pole (a fixed point to which other points and lines are referred - the origin of a polar coordinate system) and Pole (a native of Poland.)

Here are some less common homophones:

Undo and Undue - The popularity of the word "undo" has increased markedly since the advent of CTRL-Z type undo features in many software packages. For me, the concept bleeds over into "real life." I have found myself, immediately after breaking something or otherwise making a poor choice, thinking "Undo!  Undo!"  Undue, however, remains a much less common, though occasionally very useful, word.

Away and Aweigh - Here again is a really common word and its much less common homophone.  Indeed, many people don't even realize that the naval song "Anchors Aweigh" is not, in fact, "Anchors Away."  Last year in a pop-up Halloween Store I saw a costume for "Sexy Sailor Girl" labelled "Anchors Away."  In that case, it could have actually been a somewhat clever naughty double entendre, but it was probably just a mistake.

Wet and Whet - As a verb, whet means "to sharpen," so a knife-sharpening tool is sometimes called a "whetstone." Since a sharpening stone is often used with water on it, it is both a whetstone and a wet stone.

Do you have any favorites homophones?  Do you think these should all be called homonyms?  Leave a comment!