The words clause, claws sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Why do clause, claws sound the same even though they are completely different words?
The answer is simple: clause, claws are homophones of the English language.
Grammar A group of words containing a subject and a predicate and forming part of a compound or complex sentence.
A distinct article, stipulation, or provision in a document.
Plural form of claw.
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of claw.
Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition, from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License and Wordnik.
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").