I have always been a person interested in words. When I read something, if I see a word I don’t know, I look it up. I love to use different cool words. So, of course, the English language is interesting because we have all these words that mean different things but sound the same or are spelled the same but pronounced differently. We have a confusing language. So, I decided to show you just how confusing just in case you forgot about some of these instances.
Bear, Bare, Wear, Stare, Stair, Air, Care, Dare, Fair, Hare, Hair, Lair, Mare, Pear, Pair, Rare, Tear
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Bird, Word, Heard, Herd, Nerd, Turd
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Line, Mine, Pine, Sine, Sign, Wine, Dine, Fine
These all sound the same and yet all of them are spelled the same way except Sign. How did the inventor come up with "ign" sounding the same as "ine"??
Wish & Wishes, Dish & Dishes, but not Fish & Fishes
This is one of the plural forms that confuse me. Wish and Dish means only one. But, Fish means one or two or even one hundred.
Cell, Sale, Hail, Bail, Whale, Wail, Dale, Fail, Gale, Hale, Hell, Kale, Jail, Male, Mail, Nail, Pale, Pail, Rail, Stale, Sell, Tale, Tail, Veil, Yell
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Find, Hind, Bind, Mind, Rind, Kind, Wind, but yet not Wind
White, Sight, Light, Might, Tight, Bite, Fight, Height, Kite, Night, Right, but not eight.
Stay, Bay, Weigh, Day, Gay, Neigh, Hay, Lay, May, Pay, Say, Way, Hey
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Reid, Heed, Breed, Read, Secede, Peed, Deed, Feed, Lead, Need, Knead, Seed, Weed
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Read, Lead, Led, Red, Bed, Dead, Fed, Head, Said, Ted, Wed, Bread, Bled
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Lynch, Pinch, Wench, Wrench, Sinch
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Olive (ah-live), Alive (a-liive), Live (liive or live)
Not too sure why this is the way it is. It's all because of the little word "live" that can be pronounced two different ways. But who decided that olive would not rhyme with hive?
Meyer, Hire, Dire, Fire, Liar, Buyer, Wire, Tire, Sire
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Vein, Rain, Sane, Bane, Gain, Stain, Cain, Mane, Pain
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Arkansas & Kansas
According to Business Insider, Arkansas was named for the French plural of a Native American tribe. Kansas is named for the Kansas River, which is named for the Kansa tribe. Since Arkansas is French, the S at the end is usually silent. Therefore, we say "Arkinsaw."
Wound & Wound — Mound, Round, Bound, Sound
Wound: An injury (noun). Wound: To tighten something with a key or to wrap thread around something (verb). But, like wind and wind & live and live & read and read, why are these two pronounced differently but spelled the same.
Whole, Hole, Bowl, Role, Foal, Mole, Goal, Soul, Sole, Pole
These all sound the same and yet there is not a consistent spelling.
Steak & Stake, Peak, Beak, Weak
Stake and Steak sound the same. Yet, beak, peak, and weak are spelled like Steak and don't sound the same.
Goose & Geese but not Moose & Meese
This is similar to fish where if someone could be talking about seeing a moose and it be one or seeing a bunch of moose and it be more than one.
Aunt can be pronounced like ant or haunt
This is merely based on where you are from. The South, African Americans, and British English tend to say aunt like haunt. Whereas, the rest of America pronounce it as ant.
Vine & Yard & Vineyard. Nothing & No Thing. Every Thing & Everything.
Vineyard is pronounced like (vin — your car has a VIN) vinyard yet it is just Vine and Yard pushed together. Nothing is pronounced like "Nuhthing" yet it is just No and Thing pushed together. However, to confuse you even more: Every Thing is pronounced the exact same as everything. Why is that different than vineyard and nothing?
Sean is pronounced like Dawn. Dean is pronounced like Bean.
Sean is Irish for John. Bean is English. Shaun and Shawn are the English variations of Sean. So, two different languages means that you get two different pronunciations. But, another cool fact is that S and E next to each other in Irish Gaelic sounds like "Sh." A similar fact about the English language is that P and H next to each other in English sounds like the "F" sound.
Don't you love the English language? I am glad I learned it as my first language rather than as a second or third. This would confuse anyone that didn't grow up with just knowing that certain words sound different than how they are spelled and that it all depends on how the word is used. I mean, when someone learns to sound out a word by each letter, how do they know that maybe that O on opossum is actually silent? Who decided that anyway?
"I have a great idea! What if we spelled a word with a letter that wasn't needed to pronounce that word?? Wouldn't that be fun?"
"I think it would be mean... Let's do it!"
