roes, rose, rows

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

The answer is simple: roes, rose, rows are homophones of the English language.

roes
  1. :: noun

    Plural form of roe.

rose
  1. :: noun

    A member of the rose family.

  2. :: noun

    Any of numerous shrubs or vines of the genus Rosa, having prickly stems, pinnately compound leaves, and variously colored, often fragrant flowers.

  3. :: noun

    The flower of any of these plants.

  4. :: noun

    Any of various similar or related plants.

rows
  1. :: noun

    Plural form of row.

  2. :: verb

    Third-person singular simple present indicative form of row.

Definitions from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, 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").