sigher, sire

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

The answer is simple: sigher, sire are homophones of the English language.

sigher
  1. :: noun

    One who sighs.

sire
  1. :: noun

    A father.

  2. :: noun

    The male parent of an animal, especially a domesticated mammal such as a horse.

  3. :: noun

    Archaic A male ancestor; a forefather.

  4. :: noun

    Archaic A gentleman of rank.

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").