ess, s

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

The answer is simple: ess, s are homophones of the English language.

ess
  1. :: noun

    The letter s.

s
  1. :: noun

    The 19th letter of the modern English alphabet.

  2. :: noun

    Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter s.

  3. :: noun

    The 19th in a series.

  4. :: noun

    Something shaped like the letter S.

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").