manila, manilla

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

The answer is simple: manila, manilla are homophones of the English language.

manila
  1. :: noun

    A cheroot made in Manila.

  2. :: noun

    See abaca.

  3. :: noun

    Manila paper.

  4. :: noun

    A light yellow brown.

manilla
  1. :: noun

    Variant of manila.

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").