The words lutes, loots sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Why do lutes, loots sound the same even though they are completely different words?
The answer is simple: lutes, loots are homophones of the English language.
Valuables pillaged in time of war; spoils.
Stolen goods.
Informal Goods illicitly obtained, as by bribery.
Informal Things of value, such as gifts, received on one occasion.
Plural form of lute.
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").