bree, brie

The words bree, brie sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Why do bree, brie sound the same even though they are completely different words?

The answer is simple: bree, brie are homophones of the English language.

bree
  1. :: noun

    The eyelid.

  2. :: noun

    The eyebrow.

  3. :: noun

    Broth.

brie
  1. :: noun

    A variety of soft, mild French cheese made from cow’s milk.

Definitions from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License and Wordnik.

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About Homophones

Homophones (literally "same sound") are usually defined as words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of how they are spelled.

If they are spelled the same then they are also homographs (and homonyms); if they are spelled differently then they are also heterographs (literally "different writing").