Welcome to Dan's Interesting Things!

I've decided to learn a bit of HTML (I don't know why) and build my own website.

I expect that this will change as I improve. I hope it will change, and I hope it will improve! Today is the 11th of December 2024, so let's see what happens.

I like to read, and my brain picks up on homophones: words with different spellings (and meanings) but which are pronounced the same way.

So here we go: a small list of homophones in approximate alphabetical order which I intend to update as I read/think of more.

Where a word is unusual, I will include a little gloss to help clarify its meaning.

New rule as of 20/5/2025: I won't include words which are homophonous solely by virtue of accent ('free' and the Cockney 'three' for example). Assume British RP here.

Dan's list of homophones (updated 01 Jun 2025):

• air, heir, ere (before), eyre (itinerant, usually referring to a circuit judge).
• aisle, isle
• ale, ail
• all, awl
• altar, alter
• ait (a small island in a river, also spelled eyot), ate, eight
• amend, emend (edit or correct a written document)
• aught (anything), ought
• awe, or, ore
• apprise (to inform), apprize (to assess the monetary value of something)
• auk (the bird), orc (the mythical monster)
• baccy (tobacco), backie (a ride on the back of one's bike)
• bad, bade (past tense of bid, in the sense of invite someone to do something)
• bait, bate (for a bird to beat its wings in agitation)
• ball, bawl
• bare, bear
• bard, barred
• bark, barque (a small sailing ship)
• beach, beech
• beat, beet
• beer, bier
• bell, belle
• berth, birth
• bloc (a political group), block
• boar, bore, boor (an uncivilized brute)
• bi, buy, by, bye
• bite, byte
• born, borne, bourn (boundary or limit)
• bowl, bole (a tree trunk), boll (a seed capsule)
• bow* (of a ship), bough (a big branch)
• bow* (a ribbon), beau (a lover)
• Braille, brail (cord used to tie up a sail)
• brake, break
• breach, breech
• brooch, broach
• broch (a stone tower), brock (an old word for a badger)
• but, butt
• call, caul (a piece of amniotic membrane attached to a baby's head at birth, once considered to be very lucky)
• calve, carve
• car, ka (the ancient Egyptian concept of the spirit or soul
• cause, caws
• cellar, seller
• censer (a container for incense in a church), censor
• cent, sent, scent
• cheap, cheep
• cite, sight, site
• come, cum (Yeah yeah--I mean the Latin for 'with' as in 'kitchen cum living room'.)
• council, counsel
• cousin, cozen (to trick or deceive)
• cowl (a head covering), cawl (a Welsh stew). These words are genuinely homophones.
• current, currant
• cue, queue
• dam, damn
• daw (a jackdaw), door
• days, daze. I'm setting the rules here, so plurals are allowed ;p
• dear, deer
• die, dye
• discreet, discrete
• discussed, disgust. Totally allowing this, and as many other past-tense homophones as I can find.
• done, dun ('Dun' is wonderfully homonymous. It can mean a dull brownish grey, or a horse of that colour. It can mean a fort in Ireland--you will see it place names. It can also mean to make persistent demands for money, or someone who does this.)
• dew, due
• draft, draught
• draw, drawer
• earn, urn
• er (expressing uncertainty), err (to stray or do wrong)
• eruption, irruption. An eruption is a violent outburst; an irruption is a violent entry.
• eve, eave (the part of a roof which overhangs a wall)
• ewe, you
• fain (glad to do, in the circumstances), fane (a temple or shrine (thanks Horus Heresy novels)), feign (to falsify or fake an action)
• faint, feint
• fair, fare
• feat, feet
• fir, fur
• fish, phish (a modern and probably intentional homophone)
• flea, flee
• flour, flower
• for, fore, four
• foul, fowl
• fort, fought
• gait (the manner of one's walk), gate
• grate, great
• groin, groyne (a barrier built out in to the sea to reduce erosion)
• hair, hare
• hall, haul
• hart (a stag), heart
• hay, hey
• hays, heys, haze
• heard, herd
• he'd, heed
• hew (to cut), hue (colour)
• hi, hie, high
• higher, hire
• him, hymn
• hoard (a great stash), horde (an army or large number of things)
• hoare (silver-grey, or frost), whore, haw (a type of berry)
• hoarse, horse
• hole, whole
• holy, wholly. No doubt many wisecracks have also been made in the past about holey.
• hour, our
• how, howe (a hill)
• humerus, humorous
• imminent (about to happen), immanent (intrinsic, or part of the essence of something)
• I, aye, eye
• idle, idol
• in, inn
• knead, need
• knight, night
• knot, not
• know, no
• laid, lade (fill up a ship with cargo)
• lain, lane
• lam (escaped or on the run), lamb
• law, lore
• lead (the metal), led
• licence, license. In the UK, practice is a noun and practise is a verb, and we draw a distinction. You will also see this below with practice/practise
• light, lite
• load, lode (a vein of metal ore), lowed
• ma (mother), mar (spoil)
• made, maid
• mail, male
• main, mane
• manner, manor
• mantle, mantel
• mark, marque
• maw, more
• mead (a fermented honey drink), meed (one's share of the winnings), Mede (an ancient civilization)
• meat, meet, mete (share or dish out)
• metal, mettle (constitution or mental strength)
• missed, mist
• might, mite
• moat, mote (a tiny speck)
• moo, moue (a pout)
• morn(ing), mourn(ing)
• nay, neigh
• none, nun
• one, won (past tense of 'win')
• pain, pane
• pair, pare, pear
• pass, parse (examine the parts of a sentence to extract the meaning)
• passed, past
• patience, patients
• pea, pee
• peak, peek
• pi, pie
• plain, plane
• poor, pore**, pour
• practice, practise.
• prise, prize
• pros (plural of pro), prose
• psi, sight
• raise, raze
• raw, roar
• ray, re, wray (an old word meaning denounce or betray)
• read (past tense of read), red.
• read (present tense of read ;p), rede (advice or counsel), reed
• roc (the bird of Arabic myth), rock
• rough, ruff
• road, rode
• rose, rows
• rack, wrack
• rap, wrap
• rapt, wrapped
• reck (an old word for reckon), wreck
• ren (the ancient Egyptian idea of one's name or identity), wren
• reek, wreak
• rest, wrest
• rhyme, rime (a crust, usually of frost or ice)
• right, rite
• rye, wry
• saw, sore
• scene, seen
• sea, see
• seam, seem
• seamen, semen
• set, sett (a badger's den) though I'm not so sure about this one.
• sew, so, sow
• shore, sure
• sign, sine
• sloe, slow
• sole, soul
• some, sum
• son, sun
• spore, spoor (the scent or track of an animal)
• staid (solid and dependable), stayed
• stair, stare
• stationary (standing still), stationery (pens and paper).
• steal, steel
• storey, story
• sty, stye
• tail, tale
• talk, torque
• tare, tear (a rip)
• team, teem
• tear (a drop of water from the eye), tier
• the (when followed by a vowel, as in 'the end'), thee
• there, their, they're
• threw, through
• thyme, time
• tide, tied
• toad, toed
• to, too, two
• toe, tow
• told, tolled (rang a bell)
• tough, tuff (rock formed from the compaction of volcanic ash)
• vain, vane, vein
• vale, veil
• villain, villein (a feudal tenant)
• waist, waste
• wait, weight
• wan (pale and sickly), won (Korean currency)
• want, wont (wont means habit, as in regular activity).
• war, wore
• ware (pottery; goods for sale; aware), wear, where
• watt (the SI unit of power), what
• way, weigh
• we, wee (ha ha, I mean small)
• weather, whether, wether (a male sheep, as in 'bellwether')
• weir, we're
• when, wen (a boil or cyst)
• which, witch
• wile (a trick or ruse), while
• whine, wine
• whirled, world
• whit (a little bit), wit
• white, wight (a ghost or apparition; occasionally just means 'person')
• why, y (the letter), Wye (the river). Not sure if proper nouns should be included though.
• win, whin (gorse or bracken)
• wicker, whicker (the soft snorting noise a horse makes)
• wither, whither ('to which place')
• woe, woah
• wood, would
• yaw, yore

And just because today is the 21st of December 2024:

• you'll, Yule
• slay, sleigh

* Words like bow (to rhyme with 'now') and bow (to rhyme with 'know') are heteronyms. We se that the first is homophonous with 'bough', and the second with 'beau'.

**Words like pore, with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings (here, a small opening in the skin, or to stare intently at, like to pore over a map) are homonyms. This example is also a homophone with poor and pour.

19 May 2025 (happy birthday Jen)

OK, some more basic formatting, since I have done lists. This is how you do italics, and this is how you do strong font.

And a horizontal line looks like this:

You don't need to close off a horizontal rule.

Dan's interesting things. I don't know how emphasis differs from italics.

But I do think I know how bold font works.

I also think I can do ^superscript and _subscript though it would have to be explained why I would want to use them.

Here's how you can add an image:

To learn more HTML/CSS, check out these tutorials!