Editing Homophone (section)

==In various languages==

===English===
There are online lists of multinyms. In English, concerning groups of homophones (excluding proper nouns), there are approximately 88&nbsp;triplets, 24&nbsp;quadruplets, 2&nbsp;quintuplets, 1&nbsp;sextet, 1&nbsp;septet, and 1&nbsp;questionable octet (possibly a second septet). The questionable octet is:

: ''raise'', ''rays'', ''rase'', ''raze'', ''rehs'', ''res'', ''reais'', [''race'']

Other than the common words ''raise'', ''rays'', and ''race'' this octet includes

* ''raze'' – a verb meaning "to demolish, level to the ground" or "to scrape as if with a razor"
* ''rase'' – an archaic verb meaning "to erase"
* ''rehs'' – the plural of ''reh'', a mixture of sodium salts found as an efflorescence in India
* ''res'' – the plural of [[re (musical note)|''re'']], a name for one step of the musical scale; obsolete legal term for "the matter" or "incident"
* ''reais'' – the plural of real, the currency unit of Brazil

The inclusion of "race" in the octet above is questionable, since its pronunciation differs from the other words on the list (ending with /s/ instead of /z/).

If proper names are included, then a possible nonet would be:
* ''[[Ayr]]'' – a town in [[Scotland]]
* ''[[River Aire|Aire]]'' – a river in [[Yorkshire]]
* ''Eyre'' – legal term and various geographic locations 
* ''heir'' – one who inherits
* ''air'' – the ubiquitous atmospheric gas that people breathe; a type of musical tune
* ''err'' – to make an error 
* ''ere'' – poetic / archaic "before" 
* ''e'er'' – poetic "ever" (some speakers)
* ''[[hectare|are]]'' – a [[metric system|metric unit]] of area, usually found in ''hectare''<ref>{{cite web |author=Burkardt, J. |title=Multinyms |series=Fun / wordplay |publisher=[[Florida State University]] |department=Department of Scientific Computing |url=http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/fun/wordplay/multinyms.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825095711/http://people.sc.fsu.edu/~jburkardt/fun/wordplay/multinyms.html |archive-date=2016-08-25}}</ref>

Certain word pairs that were historically variant spellings of the same words, but eventually standardized as distinct homophonous words by mere spelling, include:
*''flour''<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=flour|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/flour#etymonline_v_8923}}</ref> and ''flower'':<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=flower|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/flower#etymonline_v_8927}}</ref> ''flour'' is the older spelling used for the later meaning ("wheat powder," supposedly the "finest" part, the "bloom" of a meal;<ref name=oxford>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''</ref> compare [[French language|French]] ''[[wikt:fr:fleur de farine#Français|fleur de farine]]'', literally "flower of flour"); ''flower'' is the later spelling used for the original meaning ("bloom"). The verb ''flourish'' ("blossom") is spelt more similarly to the noun ''flour'' ("wheat powder").
*''discrete''<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=discrete|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/discrete}}</ref> and ''discreet'':<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=discreet|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/discreet}}</ref> ''discrete'' maintains the original meaning ("separate"); ''discreet'' is used for the later meaning ("prudent"), although the noun ''discretion''  ("prudence") looks more similar to ''discrete''. The split in spelling occurred after during the late 16th century when ''discreet'' was favored for the popular meaning of "prudent," while ''discrete'' is favored in academic contexts.
*''passed'' and ''[[past]]'':<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=past|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/past#etymonline_v_7298}}</ref> ''past'' was one of the many variants of the [[past participle]] ''passed'' of the [[Middle English]] verb ''[[wikt:passen#Middle English|passen]]'' (whence [[Modern English]] ''pass'').<ref name=oxford/> During the 14th century, ''past'' was used specifically as an adjective and prepostion, and during the 15th century as a noun by [[Ellipsis (linguistics)|ellipsis]] with the earlier adjective.<ref name=oxford/> Compare the [[Romance languages|Romance]] [[cognate]]s, French ''[[wikt:passé#French|passé]]'', [[Italian language|Italian]] ''[[wikt:passato#Italian|passato]]'', [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''[[wikt:passado#Portuguese|passado]]'' and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''[[wikt:pasado#Spanish|pasado]]'', all of which function as past participles, adjectives and nouns.
*''born''<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=born|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/born#etymonline_v_15631}}</ref> and ''borne'': these were variant spellings of the same past participle of ''bear'', whose general meaning is "carry", but with one specific derived meaning, "birth". The distinction between ''born'' for "birthed" and ''borne'' for "carried" came to be sometime during the 17th century. Compare ''sworne'', ''torne'' and ''worne'',<ref name=oxford/> variants of ''sworn'', ''torn'' and ''worn'', that did not survive into present-day English.

''Its'' was merely the genitive form of ''it'' and derived by adding the apostrophe and ''s'', thus originally spelt ''it's'', making it also a [[homograph]] of ''it's'' (contraction of ''it is/has''). The genitive ''it's'' was retained even toward the early 19th century.<ref name=oxford/> The spelling of ''aisle''<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=aisle|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/aisle#etymonline_v_8084}}</ref> (from [[Middle French]] ''[[wikt:aisle#Middle French|aisle]]'', [[Old French]] ''[[wikt:aile#Old French|aile]]'', [[Latin]] ''[[wikt:ala#Latin|ālam]]'') was altered with the [[silent letter]] ''s'' due to its historical homophony with ''isle'' (Old French ''[[wikt:isle#Old French|isle]]'', Latin ''[[wikt:insula#Latin|īnsulam]]'') in both French and English. Spelling alteration (often based on [[etymology]]) can also obscure homophony, such as the case of ''[[wikt:colonel#English|colonel]]'', which prevailed over the historical variant ''coronel'' by the late Modern English period, but which is now still pronounced identically to ''kernel'' as if the ''r'' were still there in the spelling.<ref name=oxford/> The ''ye'' in ''dye'' is purposefully retained in its forms, especially its present participle ''dyeing'', in order to distinguish it from the homophonous ''dying'', which is the present participle of ''die''.

Homophones can arise from borrowed words which end up being pronounced the same in English, such as ''profit'' (ultimately from Latin ''profectus'') and ''prophet'' (ultimately from Greek προφήτης). Sometimes the English words are even homographs, such as ''quarry'' ('stone mine', from Latin ''quadraria'') and ''quarry'' ('thing that is pursued', from Latin ''corata'') or ''[[wikt:policy#Etymology 1|policy]]'' ('[[Policy|way of management]]', ultimately from Greek [[wikt:πολιτεία#Ancient Greek|πολῑτείᾱ]]) and ''[[wikt:policy#Etymology 2|policy]]'' ('[[Insurance policy|insurance contract]]', from Greek [[wikt:ἀπόδειξις#Ancient Greek|ἀπόδειξις]] via Latin ''[[wikt:apodixa#Latin|apodīssa]]'', [[Italian language|Italian]] ''[[wikt:polizza#Italian|polizza]]'' and French ''police'')—<ref>{{cite web|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|title=policy|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/policy#etymonline_v_17569}}</ref>see the discussion of [[English words of Greek origin#Homographs of different origin|English homographs from different Greek origins]]. 

Many words were historically heterophonous, but after historical sound changes, including the [[Great Vowel Shift]] and [[Phonological history of English vowels|various vowel mergers]], they became homophonous. For example, ''ail'' and ''ale'', both pronounced {{IPA|/ɛjl/}} in Modern English, were respectively ''[[wikt:eilen#Middle English|eile(n)]]'' {{IPA|/ˈɛjlə(n)/}} and ''[[wikt:ale#Middle English|ale]]'' {{IPA|/ˈaːlə/}} in Middle English before the Great Vowel Shift. The verbs ''lie'' (past tense and past participle ''lied'') and ''lie'' (past tense ''lay'', past participle ''lain'') used to be ''[[wikt:leogan#Old English|lēogan]]'' {{IPA|[ˈleoːɣɑn]}} and ''[[wikt:licgan#Old English|liċġan]]'' {{IPA|[ˈliddʒɑn]}} in Old English; while ''will'' (past tense ''would'') and ''will'' (past tense and past participle ''willed'') used to be ''[[wikt:willan#Old English|willan]]'' {{IPA|[ˈwiɫɫɑn]}} and ''[[wikt:willian#Old English|willian]]'' {{IPA|[ˈwiɫɫiɑn]}}.

''Ax(e)'' (Middle English ''[[wikt:axen#Middle English|ax(i)e(n)]]'', [[Old English]] ''[[wikt:axian#Old English|āxian]]/[[wikt:acsian#Old English|ācsian]]''), an obsolescent variant of ''ask'' (Middle English ''[[wikt:asken#Middle English|ask(i)e(n)]]'', Old English ''[[wikt:ascian#Old English|āscian]]''), is homophonous with ''[[axe|ax(e)]]'' (cutting tool) in some Scottish accents, but with ''arcs'' in some English accents such as [[Multicultural London English]].<ref>{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nysHgnXx-o|title=Why do people say AKS instead of ASK?|author-first=Geoff|author-last=Lindsey|website=YouTube|date=7 Dec 2022}}</ref>

[[Epenthesis]], which often occurs at the boundary between a [[Nasal consonant|nasal]] and a [[fricative]], can cause some words that are phonemically distinct to become phonetically homophonous. For example, ''assistance'' may be pronounced {{IPA|[əˈsɪstənts]}}, with an additional ''t'' like in ''assistants''.

=== Brazilian Portuguese ===
The Portuguese language has one of the highest numbers of homophones and consequently homographs in the world. Homophonic words include: "Jogo" - I throw, "Jogo" - I play, "Jogo" - Match (Sports), and "Jogo" - Game (This last one is controversial, with dialects like Paulistano considering it non-homophonic, while dialects like Caipira consider it only homophonic, noting that these are two Brazilian dialects.)

For example, "Cinto" is a homophone for 9 other words, totalizing 10.(Oxford Languages)

Although they are homophones, most of them are also homographs.

# Cinto - a strip of varying width made of fabric, leather, or other material, worn around the waist and tied with a bow or fastened with a buckle or other closure.
# Cinto - any strap or band that encircles the waist or trunk for safety purposes.
# Cinto - synonymous with "CÓS" (waistband).
# Cinto - that which surrounds and/or limits a space; fence.
# Cinto - a ring that encircles something; belt.
# Cinto - "A metal cinto reinforces the columns."
# Cinto - synonymous with "ANILHA" (ring).
# Cinto - a long, narrow bag that travelers attach to the waist or carry over the shoulder.
# Sinto - to touch and feel the texture.
# Sinto - to become sensitive to something

===German===
There are many homophones in present-day standard German. As in other languages, however, there exists regional and/or individual variation in certain groups of words or in single words, so that the number of homophones varies accordingly. Regional variation is especially common in words that exhibit the long vowels ''ä'' and ''e''. According to the well-known dictionary [[Duden]], these vowels should be distinguished as /ɛ:/ and /e:/, but this is not always the case, so that words like ''Ähre'' (ear of corn) and ''Ehre'' (honor) may or may not be homophones.
Individual variation is shown by a pair like ''Gäste'' (guests) – ''Geste'' (gesture), the latter of which varies between /ˈɡe:stə/ and /ˈɡɛstə/ and by a pair like ''Stiel'' (handle, stalk) – ''Stil'' (style), the latter of which varies between /ʃtiːl/ and /stiːl/.

Besides websites that offer extensive lists of German homophones,<ref>See, e.g. {{cite web |title=Homophone und homonyme im deutschen Homophone |lang=de |website=yumpu.com |url=https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/view/6941949/homophone-und-homonyme-im-deutschen-homophone- |access-date=2020-03-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308171812/https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/view/6941949/homophone-und-homonyme-im-deutschen-homophone- |archive-date=2021-03-08}}</ref> there are others which provide numerous sentences with various types of homophones.<ref>See [[Fausto Cercignani]], {{cite web |url=http://sites.unimi.it/austheod/FC_DEUTSCHE_HOMOPHONE.htm |title=Beispielsätze mit deutschen Homophonen |lang=de |trans-title=Example sentences with German homophones |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529060045/https://sites.unimi.it/austheod/FC_DEUTSCHE_HOMOPHONE.htm |archive-date=2020-05-29}}</ref> In the German language homophones occur in more than 200&nbsp;instances. Of these, a few are triples like
* ''Waagen'' (weighing scales) – ''Wagen'' (cart) – ''wagen'' (to dare)
* ''Waise'' (orphan) – ''Weise'' (way, manner) – ''weise'' (wise)
Most are couples like ''lehren'' (to teach) – ''leeren'' (to empty).

=== Spanish ===
Although Spanish has far fewer homophones than English, they are far from being non-existent. Some are homonyms, such as ''basta'', which can either mean 'enough' or 'coarse', and some exist because of homophonous letters. For example, the letters ''b'' and ''v'' are pronounced exactly alike, so the words ''basta'' (coarse) and ''vasta'' (vast) are pronounced identically.<ref>{{Cite web |title=51 Spanish Words That Sound Exactly Like Other Spanish Words |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/some-spanish-homophones-3080303 |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref> 

Other homonyms are spelled the same, but mean different things in different genders. For example, the masculine noun ''el capital'' means 'capital' as in 'money', but the feminine noun ''la capital'' means 'capital city'.<ref>{{Cite news |title=37 Spanish Nouns Whose Meanings Change With Gender |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/doubly-gendered-basics-3079264 |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref>

===Japanese===
There are many homophones in Japanese, due to the use of [[Sino-Japanese vocabulary]], where borrowed words and morphemes from Chinese are widely used in Japanese, but many phonemic contrasts, such as the original [[Tones in Chinese|words' tones]], are lost.

An extreme example is the pronunciation {{IPA|[kì̥kóō]}} which, accounting for the "flat" [[Japanese pitch accent|pitch accent]], is used for the following words:
{{div col begin|colwidth=12em}}
* {{lang|ja|機構}} (organization / mechanism)
* {{lang|ja|紀行}} (travelogue)
* {{lang|ja|稀覯}} (rare)
* {{lang|ja|騎行}} (horseback riding)
* {{lang|ja|奇功}} (outstanding achievement)
* {{lang|ja|起稿}} (draft)
* {{lang|ja|奇行}} (eccentricity)
* {{lang|ja|機巧}} (contrivance)
* {{lang|ja|寄港}} (stopping at port)
* {{lang|ja|帰校}} (returning to school)
* {{lang|ja|気功}} (breathing exercise, qigong)
* {{lang|ja|寄稿}} (contribute an article / a written piece)
* {{lang|ja|機甲}} (armor, e.g. of a tank)
* {{lang|ja|帰航}} (homeward voyage)
* {{lang|ja|奇効}} (remarkable effect)
* {{lang|ja|季候}} (season / climate)
* {{lang|ja|気孔}} (stoma)
* {{lang|ja|起工}} (setting to work)
* {{lang|ja|気候}} (climate)
* {{lang|ja|帰港}} (returning to port)
{{div col end}}

Upon adoption from [[Middle Chinese]] into [[Early Middle Japanese]], certain sounds were modified or simplified to match Japanese phonology, causing homophony. For example, in the above list, {{lang|ja|機構}}, {{lang|ja|稀覯}}, {{lang|ja|季候}}, {{lang|ja|気功}}, {{lang|ja|起稿}}, {{lang|ja|帰校}} and {{lang|ja|紀行}} may have been pronounced {{IPA|[kɨj˧ kəw˥˩], [hɨj˧ kəw˥˩], [kwi˥˩ ɦəw˥˩], [kʰɨj˥˩ kəwŋ˧], [kʰɨ˧˥ kaw˧˥], [kuj˧ ɦaɨw˥˩] and [kɨ˧˥ ɦaɨjŋ˧]}} in Middle Chinese, but {{IPA|[kikou], [kikou], [kikou], [kikoũ], [kikau], [kikau] and [kikaũ]}} in Japanese. Furthermore, there were vowel fusions and mergers during [[Late Middle Japanese]] which furthered even more homophony. For example, {{lang|ja|機構}}, {{lang|ja|奇功}}, {{lang|ja|起稿}} and {{lang|ja|紀行}} were once pronounced distinctly as {{IPA|[kikou], [kikoũ], [kikau] and [kikaũ]}}, but now all as {{IPA|[kikoo]}}.

===Korean===
The Korean language contains a combination of words that strictly belong to Korean and words that are [[loanwords]] from Chinese. Due to Chinese being pronounced with varying [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]] and Korean's removal of those tones, and because the modern Korean writing system, Hangeul, has a more finite number of phonemes than, for example, Latin-derived alphabets such as that of English, there are many homonyms with both the same spelling and pronunciation.
For example
* '{{Korean|hangul=화장하다|hanja=化粧하다}}': 'to put on makeup' vs. '{{Korean|hangul=화장하다|hanja=火葬하다|labels=no}}': 'to cremate'
* '{{Korean|hangul=[[wikt:유산|유산]]|hanja=遺産|labels=no}}': 'inheritance' vs. '{{Korean|hangul=유산|hanja=流産|labels=no}}': 'miscarriage'
* '{{Korean|hangul=[[wikt:방구|방구]]|labels=no}}': 'fart' vs. '{{Korean|hangul=방구|hanja=防具|labels=no}}': 'guard'
* '밤[밤ː]': 'chestnut' vs. '밤': 'night'

There are heterographs, but far fewer, contrary to the tendency in English. For example,
* '학문(學問)': 'learning' vs. '항문(肛門)': 'anus'.
Using [[hanja]] ({{Korean|hangul=한자|hanja=漢字|rr=|mr=|labels=no|context=}}), which are [[Chinese characters]], such words are written differently.

As in other languages, Korean homonyms can be used to make puns. The context in which the word is used indicates which meaning is intended by the speaker or writer.

=== Mandarin Chinese ===
Due to phonological constraints in [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] syllables (as Mandarin only allows for an initial consonant, a vowel, and a nasal or retroflex consonant in respective order), there are only a little over 400&nbsp;possible unique syllables that can be produced,<ref>{{cite web |date=2017-07-07 |title=Is there any similarity between Chinese and English? |website=Learn Mandarin Chinese Online |series=Study Online Mandarin Chinese Courses |lang=en-US |url=https://www.newconceptmandarin.com/learn-chinese-blog/similarities-chinese-english/ |access-date=2020-12-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125191859/https://www.newconceptmandarin.com/learn-chinese-blog/similarities-chinese-english/ |archive-date=2021-01-25}}</ref> compared to over 15,831 in the English language.<ref>{{cite web |author=Barker |date=2016-08-22 |title=Syllables |department=Linguistics |publisher=[[New York University]] |url=http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/barker/Syllables/index.txt |access-date=2020-12-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822211027/http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/barker/Syllables/index.txt |archive-date=2016-08-22}}</ref>

Chinese has an entire genre of poems taking advantage of the large amount of homophones called [[one-syllable article]]s, or poems where every single word in the poem is pronounced as the same syllable if tones are disregarded. An example is the ''[[Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den]].''

Like all Chinese languages, Mandarin uses phonemic tones to distinguish homophonic syllables; Mandarin has five tones. A famous example,
* {{translit|cmn|mā}} ({{lang|cmn|妈}}) means "mother"
* {{translit|cmn|má}} ({{lang|cmn|麻}}) means "hemp"
* {{translit|cmn|mă}} ({{lang|cmn|马}}) means "horse"
* {{translit|cmn|mà}} ({{lang|cmn|骂}}) means "scold"
* {{translit|cmn|ma}} ({{lang|cmn|吗}}) is a yes / no question particle

Although all these words consist of the same string of consonants and vowels, the only way to distinguish each of these words audibly is by listening to which tone the word has, and as shown above, saying a consonant-vowel string using a different tone can produce an entirely different word altogether. If tones are included, the number of unique syllables in Mandarin increases to at least 1,522.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

However, even with tones, Mandarin retains a very large amount of homophones. ''Yì'', for example, has at least 125&nbsp;homophones,<ref>{{cite web |last=Chang |first=Chao-Huang |title=Corpus-based adaptation mechanisms for Chinese Homophone disambiguation |url=https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W93-0311.pdf |access-date=2020-12-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414135958/https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W93-0311.pdf |archive-date=2021-04-14}}</ref> and it is the pronunciation used for [[Chinese characters]] such as 义, 意, 易, 亿, 议, 一, and 已.

There are even place names in China that have identical pronunciations, aside for the difference in tone. For example, there are two neighboring provinces with nearly identical names, [[Shanxi]] ({{lang|cmn|山西}}) and [[Shaanxi]] ({{lang|cmn|陕西}}). The only difference in pronunciation between the two names are the tone in the first syllable (Shanxi is pronounced {{Audio|zh-Shanxi.ogg|{{translit|cmn|Shānxī}}|help=no}} whereas Shaanxi is pronounced {{Audio|zh-Shaanxi.ogg|{{translit|cmn|Shǎnxī}}|help=no}}). As most languages exclude the [[Mandarin tones|tone]] [[Diacritic|diacritics]] when transcribing Chinese place names into their own languages, the only way to visually distinguish the two names is to write Shaanxi in [[Gwoyeu Romatzyh]] [[romanization]]. Otherwise, nearly all other spellings of placenames in mainland China are spelled using [[Pinyin|Hanyu Pinyin]] romanization.

Many scholars believe that the Chinese language did not always have such a large number of homophones and that the phonological structure of Chinese syllables was once more complex, which allowed for a larger amount of possible syllables so that words sounded more distinct from each other.

{{See also|Old Chinese phonology}}

Scholars also believe that Old Chinese had no phonemic tones, but tones emerged in [[Middle Chinese]] to replace sounds that were lost from Old Chinese. Since words in Old Chinese sounded more distinct from each other at this time, it explains why many words in [[Classical Chinese]] consisted of only one syllable. For example, the [[Standard Chinese|Standard Mandarin]] word 狮子(''shīzi'', meaning "lion") was simply 狮 (''shī'') in Classical Chinese, and the Standard Mandarin word 教育 (''jiàoyù,'' "education") was simply 教 (''jiào'') in Classical Chinese.

{{See also|Classical Chinese lexicon}}

Since many Chinese words became homophonic over the centuries, it became difficult to distinguish words when listening to documents written in Classical Chinese being read aloud. One-syllable articles like those mentioned above are evidence for this. For this reason, many one-syllable words from Classical Chinese became two-syllable words, like the words mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Even with the existence of two- or two-syllable words, however, there are even multisyllabic homophones. And there are also a lot of harmonic words. The cultural phenomenon brought about by such linguistic characteristics is that from ancient times to the present day, people have been keen to play games and jokes with homophonic and harmonic words. In modern life, the influence of homophones can be seen everywhere, from CCTV evening sketch programmes, folk art performances and popular folk life. In recent years, receiving the influence of Internet pop culture, young people have invented more new and popular homophones.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-05 |title=Mandarin Homophones Explained: Enhance Your Chinese Language Skills |url=https://chinesevoyage.org/mandarin-homophones-explained/ |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=chinesevoyage.org |language=en-US}}</ref> Homophones even play a major role in daily life throughout China, including Spring Festival traditions, which gifts to give (and not give), political criticism, texting, and many other aspects of people's lives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chinese Homophones and Chinese Customs |website=yoyochinese.com |type=blog |url=https://www.yoyochinese.com/blog/Chinese-Homophones-Chinese-Customs |access-date=2020-12-18 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409045334/https://www.yoyochinese.com/blog/Chinese-Homophones-Chinese-Customs |archive-date=2021-04-09}}</ref>

{{See also|Homophonic puns in Standard Chinese}}

Another complication that arises within the Chinese language is that in non-rap songs, tones are disregarded in favor of maintaining [[melody]] in the song.<ref>{{cite web |title=How do people sing in a tonal language? |date=2016-09-08 |website=Diplomatic Language Services |url=https://dlsdc.com/blog/how-do-people-sing-in-a-tonal-language/ |access-date=2020-12-30 |url-status=live |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128111951/https://dlsdc.com/blog/how-do-people-sing-in-a-tonal-language/ |archive-date=2020-11-28}}</ref> While in most cases, the lack of phonemic tones in music does not cause confusion among native speakers, there are instances where [[pun]]s may arise.

Subtitles in Chinese characters are usually displayed on music videos and in songs sung on movies and TV shows to disambiguate the song's lyrics.

=== Russian ===
The presence of homophones in the [[Russian language]] is associated in some cases with the phenomenon of devoicing of consonants at the end of words and before another consonant sound, in other cases with the reduction of vowels in an unstressed position. Examples include: поро'''г''' — п'''о'''ро'''к''' — п'''а'''рок, лу'''г''' — лу'''к''', пло'''д''' — пло'''т''', ту'''ш''' — ту'''шь''', падё'''ж''' — падё'''шь''', ба'''л''' — ба'''лл''', ко'''сн'''ый — ко'''стн'''ый, пр'''е'''дать — пр'''и'''дать, к'''о'''мпания — к'''а'''мпания, к'''о'''сатка — к'''а'''сатка, прив'''и'''дение — прив'''е'''дение, ко'''т''' — ко'''д''', пру'''т''' — пру'''д''', т'''и'''трация — т'''е'''трация, компл'''и'''мент — компл'''е'''мент.

Also, the infinitive and the present (or simple future) tense of the third person of the same verb are often pronounced the same way (in writing they differ in the presence or absence of the letter [[Soft sign|Ь]] (soft sign) before the postfix -ся): (надо) решиться — (он) решится, (хочу) строиться — (дом) строится, (металл может) гнуться — (деревья) гнутся, (должен) вернуться — (они) вернутся. This often leads to incorrect spelling of reflexive verbs ending with -ться/-тся: in some cases, Ь is mistakenly placed before -ся in the present tense of the third person, while in others, on the contrary, Ь before -ся is missing in the infinitive form.

=== Vietnamese ===
It is estimated that there are approximately 4,500 to 4,800&nbsp;possible syllables in Vietnamese, depending on the dialect.<ref>{{Cite web |title=vietnamese tone marks pronunciation |website=pronunciator.com |url=https://pronunciator.com/rj7v7/aac5d9-vietnamese-tone-marks-pronunciation |access-date=2021-02-05 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518011953/https://www.pronunciator.com/rj7v7/aac5d9-vietnamese-tone-marks-pronunciation |archive-date=2022-05-18}}</ref> The exact number is difficult to calculate because there are significant differences in pronunciation among the dialects. For example, the graphemes and digraphs "d", "gi", and "r" are all pronounced /z/ in the Hanoi dialect, so the words ''dao'' (knife), ''giao'' (delivery), and ''rao'' (advertise) are all pronounced /zaw˧/. In Saigon dialect, however, the graphemes and digraphs "d", "gi", and "v" are all pronounced /j/, so the words ''dao'' (knife), ''giao'' (delivery), and ''vao'' (enter) are all pronounced /jaw˧/.

Pairs of words that are homophones in one dialect may not be homophones in the other. For example, the words ''sắc'' (sharp) and ''xắc'' (dice) are both pronounced /săk˧˥/ in Hanoi dialect, but pronounced /ʂăk˧˥/ and /săk˧˥/ in Saigon dialect respectively.
{{See also|Vietnamese phonology}}