The words gaited, gated sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Why do gaited, gated sound the same even though they are completely different words?
The answer is simple: gaited, gated are homophones of the English language.
Having a specified gait. Often used in combination: smooth-gaited; slow-gaited.
Simple past tense and past participle of gate.
Capable of being switched on and off (normally by means of a signal).
Have a gate or other restricted access.
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").