Homophone
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. Homophones may have different spellings, and they occur in many languages, though they are especially prominent in English due to irregular spelling.
Etymology: from Greek homo- meaning "same" and phone meaning "sound."
Common English examples include to, too, and two; know and no; sea and see; sun and son;
Related terms and distinctions: A homograph is a word that is spelled the same as another word
Usage: Linguists study homophones to understand sound systems; in teaching, they are a common source of spelling