eruption, irruption

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

The answer is simple: eruption, irruption are homophones of the English language.

eruption
  1. :: noun

    The act or process of erupting.

  2. :: noun

    An instance of erupting.

  3. :: noun

    A sudden, often violent outburst.

  4. :: noun

    An appearance of a rash or blemish on the skin.

irruption
  1. :: noun

    The action of irrupting or breaking into; a violent entry or invasion; an inbreaking; an intrusion.

  2. :: noun

    An abrupt increase of numbers of a particular animal.

Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition, 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").