[combat_boots]

“A homophone.”

The complexity of English.

Corpsman
Bough

English is not his native language. He reads it well, and without an accent, but he does not know its deep seated meanings and uses. This language itself is not his mother tongue. I will die believing that.

Confusing spelling between their and they’re is one thing, even though there is a slight pronunciation difference. Mispronunciation of simple words, even those used in children’s lullabies and regular military parlance, is quite another.

[combat_boots]

A bough could be used to make a bow, but would 0bama know what a quiver is? Would he even know to pronouce it ‘kwi-vur’?

[Kirkwood]

Wonder how he would pronounce beaux?

[dr_lew]

"bow" and "bow" are heteronyms = "same spelling, different sound and meaning", and are a subset of homographs, which comprises all words of the same spelling, whether identical words, heteronyms, or homonyms, e.g. "tire" and "tire" ( same sound, different meaning.) All this in a diagram at the Wikipedia entry for Homophone.