The words pries, prise, prize sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Why do pries, prise, prize sound the same even though they are completely different words?
The answer is simple: pries, prise, prize are homophones of the English language.
Third person singular present tense of pry1.
Plural of pry1.
Third person singular present tense of pry2.
Plural of pry2.
Variant of prize3.
Something offered or won as an award for superiority or victory, as in a contest or competition.
Something worth striving for; a highly desirable possession.
Offered or given as a prize: a prize cup.
Given a prize, or likely to win a prize: a prize cow.
Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition 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").