Did you hear about the perfume maker whose business made a lot of "scents" ... or was that "sense" ... or even "cents"?

"Scents," "sense" and "cents" are triple homophones — three words that sound alike but differ in meaning or derivation or spelling. In this case, either "scents," "sense" or "cents" makes ... well, sense.

But in most contexts only one homophone is the right choice. Can you select the correct word from these triple-threats?

No. 1: The chef used a (pare, pear, pair) of knives to (pare, pear, pair) the skin from a ripe (pare, pear, pair).

No. 2: If the peasants fail to (meat, meet, mete) their quotas for production of (meat, meet, mete), the king will (meat, meet, mete) out punishment.

No. 3: To explain the mishap at the construction (cite, sight, site), the worker plans to (cite, sight, site) her poor (cite, sight, site).

No. 4: Standing atop the mother (load, lode, lowed) of silver, the oxen pulling a heavy (load, lode, lowed) of ore (load, lode, lowed).

No. 5: The unlucky prospector sought a (vain, vane, vein) of silver near the weather (vain, vane, vein) in (vain, vane, vein).

No. 6: The aliens' new death (raise, rays, raze) will (raise, rays, raze) their ability to (raise, rays, raze) our cities.

No. 7: The (sear, seer, sere) predicted the sun would (sear, seer, sere) the leaves that were already (sear, seer, sere).

No. 8: Taking a (peak, peek, pique) at a mountain (peak, peek, pique) will often (peak, peek, pique) a climber's interest.

No. 9: An organist playing a (chord, cord, cored) dropped a (chord, cord, cored) apple on the organ's electrical (chord, cord, cored).

No. 10: While inspecting a warehouse (palate, pallet, palette), an artist discovered paint for her (palate, pallet, palette) and wine that pleased her (palate, pallet, palette).

No. 11: The (idle, idol, idyll) movie (idle, idol, idyll) enjoyed a relaxing (idle, idol, idyll).

And, just for fun, a quadruple homophone...

No. 12: Writing in his ledger while munching a (carat, caret, carrot, karat), a jeweler inserted a (carat, caret, carrot, karat) to squeeze in notations about the purity of a 24-(carat, caret, carrot, karat) gold ring and the weight of a 2-(carat, caret, carrot, karat) diamond.

Answers:

No. 1: pair, pare, pear; No. 2: meet, meat, mete; No. 3: site, cite, sight; No. 4: lode, load, lowed; No. 5: vein, vane, vain; No. 6: rays, raise, raze; No. 7: seer, sear, sere; No. 8: peek, peak, pique; No. 9: cored, cord, chord; No. 10: pallet, palette, palate; No. 11: idle, idol, idyll; No. 12: carrot, caret, karat, carat

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254.

Photo credit: Ray_Shrewsberry at Pixabay