Noun

1. A word which is pronounced the same as another word but differs in spelling or meaning or origin, for example: carat, caret, carrot, and karat.
2. A letter or group of letters which are pronounced the same as another letter or group of letters.

Usage notes

A homophone is a type of homonym in the loose sense of that term (a word which sounds or is spelled the same as another). (The strict sense of homonym is a word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word.) A homograph is a word with the same spelling as another but a completely unrelated meaning. Homographs are not necessarily homophones.