bark, barque

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

The answer is simple: bark, barque are homophones of the English language.

bark
  1. :: noun

    The harsh sound uttered by a dog.

  2. :: noun

    A sound, such as a cough, that is similar to a dog's bark.

  3. :: verb-intransitive

    To utter a bark.

  4. :: verb-intransitive

    To make a sound similar to a bark: "The birds bark softly, sounding almost like young pups” ( Charleston SC News and Courier).

barque
  1. :: noun

    Variant of bark3.

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").