shears, sheers

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

The answer is simple: shears, sheers are homophones of the English language.

shears
  1. :: noun

    Plural form of shear.

  2. :: noun

    A tool consisting of two blades with bevel edges, connected by a pivot, used for cutting cloth, or for removing the fleece from sheep etc

  3. :: verb

    Third-person singular simple present indicative form of shear.

sheers
  1. :: noun

    Variant of shear.

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").