baiting, bating

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

The answer is simple: baiting, bating are homophones of the English language.

baiting
  1. :: verb

    Present participle of bait.

  2. :: noun

    A bloodsport involving the act of worrying or tormenting a chained or confined animal by setting dogs upon it.

  3. :: noun

    The act of luring, as into a trap.

bating
  1. :: verb

    Present participle of bate.

  2. :: preposition

    Apart from; except.

Definitions from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 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").