fungous, fungus

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

The answer is simple: fungous, fungus are homophones of the English language.

fungous
  1. :: adjective

    Variant of fungal.

fungus
  1. :: noun

    Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Fungi, which lack chlorophyll and vascular tissue and range in form from a single cell to a body mass of branched filamentous hyphae that often produce specialized fruiting bodies. The kingdom includes the yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.

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