faux, foe

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

The answer is simple: faux, foe are homophones of the English language.

faux
  1. :: adjective

    Artificial; fake: faux pearls.

foe
  1. :: noun

    A personal enemy.

  2. :: noun

    An enemy in war.

  3. :: noun

    An adversary; an opponent: a foe of tax reform. See Synonyms at enemy.

  4. :: noun

    Something that opposes, injures, or impedes: taxes that were the foe of economic development.

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").