How many homophones do you know?

Jim   Friday, February 28, 2003, 00:30 GMT
... and "rite"

"Where" & "wear" are homophones for most of us but "were" doesn't fit. Some people pronounce "w" and "wh" differently. Hence "Wales" & "whales", "witch" & "which" and "weather" & "whether" are homophones for some but not for others.

Simon is right about you're pairs of words but here's one for you: "holy" and "wholly". Except in American English "nought"/"naught" & "not" may be homophones like "caught" and "cot".

Then there's "you" & "ewe".
Jim   Friday, February 28, 2003, 00:32 GMT
Typo: "your" not "you're" ... does this count as a homophone? I suppose not because "you're" isn't a word.
Jim   Friday, February 28, 2003, 02:10 GMT
One sentence above seems ambiguous. What I meant is "Simon is right except ..." i.e. "nought"/"naught" & "not" and "caught" & "cot" are homophones in Canadian and American English but not in other dialects.
mjd   Friday, February 28, 2003, 04:35 GMT
I don't think naught/ not and caught/cot are homophones in American English.

I pronounce "naught/nought" as nawt

"not" as naht ("a" sounds as it does in the word father)

I'd pronounce "caught" as cawt (caw sound, like the sound of a raven, or the same sound made for naught)

the "o" in cot would have the same pronunciation as not.
Jim   Friday, February 28, 2003, 06:31 GMT
Then I (& the dictionary I looked in) must be wrong. They are different for me but I'm Aussie.
mjd   Friday, February 28, 2003, 08:06 GMT
I think it might vary with regions though. I think for midwestern Americans it would be the same. I have a New Jersey midatlantic accent.
J   Friday, February 28, 2003, 17:29 GMT
For me 'nought' goes with 'note'.
A sane person   Friday, February 28, 2003, 21:10 GMT
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