Synonyms:1, 2, 3. Homonym, homophone, and
homograph designate words that are identical to other words in spelling or pronunciation, or both, while differing from them in meaning and usually in origin.
Homophones are words that sound alike, whether or not they are spelled differently. The words
pear “fruit,”
pare “cut off,” and
pair “two of a kind” are
homophones that are different in spelling;
bear “carry; support” and
bear “animal” are
homophones that are spelled alike.
Homographs are words that are spelled identically but may or may not share a pronunciation.
Spruce “tree” and
spruce “neat” are
homographs, but so are
row /roʊ/ 
Show Spelled Pronunciation [roh] Show IPA “line” and
row /raʊ/[rou] “fight” as well as
sewer /ˈsu
ər/[soo-er] “conduit for waste” and
sewer /ˈsoʊər/[soh-er] “person who sews.”
Homonyms are, in the strictest sense, both
homophones and
homographs, alike in spelling
and pronunciation, as the two forms
bear. Homonym, however, is used more frequently than
homophone, a technical term, when referring to words with the same pronunciation without regard to spelling.
Homonym is also used as a synonym of
homograph. Thus, it has taken on a broader scope than either of the other two terms and is often the term of choice in a nontechnical context.
[hom-uh-nim] 
nymon,