homophone

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

homophone
    n 1: two words are homophones if they are pronounced the same
         way but differ in meaning or spelling or both (e.g. bare
         and bear)

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Homophone \Hom"o*phone\, n. [Cf. F. homophone. See
   {Homophonous}.]
   1. A letter or character which expresses a like sound with
      another. --Gliddon.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A word having the same sound as another, but differing
      from it in meaning and usually in spelling; as, all and
      awl; bare and bear; rite, write, right, and wright.
      Homophonic