adds, ads, adze

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

The answer is simple: adds, ads, adze are homophones of the English language.

adds
  1. :: noun

    Plural form of add.

  2. :: verb

    Third-person singular simple present indicative form of add.

ads
  1. :: noun

    Plural form of ad.

adze
  1. :: noun

    A cutting tool that has a curved blade set at a right angle to the handle and is used in shaping wood.

  2. :: verb

    To shape a material using an adze.

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").