Eccentricities of the English Language
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Words that are spelt the same, but sound different, or sound the same with different spellings

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Eight ways to say 'ough'

"The dough-faced ploughboy coughed and hiccoughed his way through Loughborough to the lough"

dough, as in toe plough, as in now
cough, as in off hiccough, as in cup
through, as in brew lough, as in cuff
borough, as in kookaburra lough, as in lock
*NB - these are UK pronunciations - your mileage may vary!

Miscellaneous dualities

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum at the army base.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
The buck does funny things when the does doze.
When the boy shouted, the dove dove into the bushes.
The entrance to a mall fails to entrance me.
I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
He led before, and would lead again, if he could get the lead out.
A cat with nine lives lives next door.
It took a minute to eat a minute meal.
She will mouth obscenities unless you stop her mouth.
After a number of injections my jaw got number.
I did not object to the object.
We must polish the Polish furniture.
No time like the present to present the present.
A farm can produce produce.
With a reed between my teeth, I will read what I read yesterday.
She was reading a book in Reading.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
The row about how to row disturbed the roe deer.
On the road, they rowed about who rowed the best.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into the sewer.
So the farmer taught his sow to sow. But not to sew.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
I shed a tear when I saw the tear in the painting.
The unionised gas smothered the unionised workforce.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
The bandage was wound around the wound.
I wonder whether the wether will be out in this weather?

I recommend the Rhyming Zone, to investigate specific words, and OneLook for a useful dictionary search.

Write to Wordskit

Contributions to The Langwidge this year:

Sol Squire, David Lawton

And see acknowledgments from previous years

Harry Potter - A Guide

Quagga Books

Ask Anon - Honest Advice

Weirdity

Guide to Flaming

13 January 2008 | |
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