What distinguishes a homophone?

A homophone is characterized by having the same pronunciation as another word but differing in meaning and often spelling. This means that while two words sound alike, they convey different concepts or refer to different things. For example, "bare" and "bear" are homophones because they are pronounced the same but have distinct meanings.

The other options, while related to language, do not accurately define homophones. The phrase indicating "same sound, different spelling" aligns more closely with the definition of homographs or other types of wordplay, but it doesn’t capture the essence of their function and relation to meaning. The idea of "same spelling, different meanings" describes homographs, which are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. The mention of being "only used in poetry" is incorrect, as homophones can be used in any form of written or spoken language, making this option irrelevant to the definition of homophones.