#homonym

...don't always have the same spelling (though for extra English-As-A-Second-Language fun, sometimes they do), and they hardly ever have the same meaning.

But, despite those different spellings and meanings, they're all Real Words and a spellchecker won't catch them.

That's where careful proofreading pays off, and why I was surprised to see Less Than Careful proofing happen on a Very Famous Writer's blog post not once but twice.

(Two images from the blog of George RR Martin, in which he gives a word - horde / hoard - the wrong spelling both times. He intends to use the word HOARD, meaning a dragon's store of gold, but instead spells it HORDE, meaning a large unruly group of people.)

That sort of H is spelt HOARD, not HORDE, and always has been.

They're not derived from the same root word or even from the same language.

(Two images from my dictionary, showing that HOARD, as for dragon treasure, is derived from Old English (then called "Anglo-Saxon"), while HORDE, as for barbarian invaders, is derived from Turkish. The dictionary pronunciation guide, though not using phonetic alphabet, shows that both words sound exactly the same.)

If George R.R. Martin can make this mistake and let it get away unnoticed, anyone can.

Apparently, in daily communication, especially in a talk, you might encounter many words or characters with the same pronunciation. It would be very confusing for each other. That’s why you need to recognize Chinese characters and get to know more about the words and meanings. Thus, one of the methods to easily distinguish each word by realize the importance of homonyms and learning them group by group.

Learn more about it: https://bit.ly/3jZhdqC

From a linguist’s perspective, English is no more or less weird than other languages. Non-linguists erroneously believe English is somehow unique due to improperly analyzing inconsistencies and irregularities in the language.