Sound and Sense, 2-11

Time for more instances of the homophone: a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air.

1. hoes (noun, plural): a garden tool that has a flat blade on a long handle

2. hose (noun): long rubber tube through which water passes; stockings;  (verb) to spray or wash something using a hose; (slang): to cheat or trick someone

In that garage he kept the hoes

He used to break his garden soil.

He also stored the lengthy hose

When heat in summer made him boil.

He bought a caddy for that hose—

Just moments ere the hardware closed.

But then he learned just how it goes:
The caddy broke—oh, he’d been hosed.

He got home in a raging fit—

His wife could tell (a woman knows!).

She told him, “Don’t make much of it—

You wanna see my fishnet hose?”

He did.