"Out-speakable words: Homophones

• "There are approximately 1,700 possible syllables in Mandarin, which compares with over 8,000 in English. As a result, there are many homophones - syllables which sound the same but mean different things. These are distinguished in written Chinese by using different characters for each one.
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• Not all the following characters are pronounced with the same tone, so to Chinese ears they sound different.
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• To Westerner ears however they all sound the same. These syllables can be distinguished in speech from the context and because most of them usually appear in combination with other syllables.
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• If you look closely, you will notice that some of the characters above have parts in common. These parts give you a clue to how to pronounce the characters."

 

• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/chinese.htm
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• English Homophones
• http://www.bifroest.demon.co.uk/misc/homophones.html