yay, yea

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

The answer is simple: yay, yea are homophones of the English language.

yay
  1. :: adverb

    So; by this amount.

  2. :: interjection

    Used as an exclamation of pleasure, approval, elation, or victory.

  3. :: noun

    The name of the letter for the y sound in <xref>Pitman shorthand</xref>.

  4. :: interjection

    Alternative form of <xref>yea</xref> (yes).

yea
  1. :: noun

    an affirmative

  2. :: adverb

    not only so, but

  3. :: adverb

  4. :: adverb

    Yes; aye.

Definitions from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition., from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License., from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. 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").