cirrous, cirrus, serous

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

The answer is simple: cirrous, cirrus, serous are homophones of the English language.

cirrous
  1. :: adjective

    Pertaining to cirri; having filaments, fibrous.

  2. :: adjective

    Pertaining to cirrus clouds.

cirrus
  1. :: noun

    A high-altitude cloud composed of narrow bands or patches of thin, generally white, fleecy parts.

  2. :: noun

    Biology A tendril or similar part.

  3. :: noun

    Biology A slender flexible appendage, such as the fused cilia of certain protozoans.

serous
  1. :: adjective

    Containing, secreting, or resembling serum.

Definitions from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition and Wordnik.

Share cirrous, cirrus, serous

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").