Homophones: Words that Sound Alike or One Reason English is Difficult to Learn - Hardcoverby Charlotte Smith (Author) One reason the English language may seem difficult to learn is that there are so many words that sound alike but are spelled differently. This large group of multiple meaning words is called homophones. The term "homophone" comes from the Greek words "homos" (same) and "phone" (sound). There are hundreds of homophones. This book lists those that may help English as a second language students the most in their study of the