Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings, and often different spellings as well. Poets may use them for puns, wordplay, and sound-based surprise, especially when a line can be heard in more than one way.
Example
The knight rode out at night
and left no write behind,
only a tale the wind could light
in a listener's mind.
Carat, caret, and carrot.
Related Definitions
[n] two words are homophones if they are pronounced the same way but differ in meaning or spelling or both (e.g. bare and bear)