viscous, viscus

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

The answer is simple: viscous, viscus are homophones of the English language.

viscous
  1. :: adjective

    Having relatively high resistance to flow.

  2. :: adjective

    Viscid; sticky.

viscus
  1. :: noun

    Singular of viscera.

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").