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Bar & Cocktail-Related
Homonyms & Homophones
Words that sound the same but don't mean the same thing are a bartender's occupational hazard—ask for a "chaser" and you might get a drink or a very confused conversation. Here's the difference: homophones sound alike but are spelled differently (like Ale and Ail), while homonyms are spelled and pronounced exactly the same, with the meaning changing entirely based on context (like Straight liquor and a straight line). Same sound, different meaning, no ID required.
Homonyms
Same spelling AND same sound, different meaning.
Bourbon — American whiskey
Bourbon — French royal dynasty
Brandy — distilled wine spirit
Brandy — a person's name
Chaser — drink following another drink
Chaser — someone pursuing something
Cocktail — mixed drink
Cock tail — the tail of a rooster
Cordial — sweet liqueur
Cordial — warm and friendly
Crush — muddle or crush ingredients
Crush — romantic infatuation
Dash — small measure of bitters
Dash — run quickly
Fizz — carbonated cocktail
Fizz — bubbling/hissing sound
Float — liquor layered on top
Float — remain on the surface of water
Garnish — decoration added to a cocktail
Garnish — legally seize someone's wages
Highball — spirit-and-mixer cocktail
Highball — railroad signal meaning proceed at full speed
Jigger — bartending measuring tool
Jigger — various mechanical devices/tools
Mash — grain mixture used in brewing/distilling
Mash — crush something
Measure — quantity of liquor
Measure — determine size or amount
Mixer — nonalcoholic cocktail ingredient
Mixer — social gathering
Muddle — crush cocktail ingredients
Muddle — confuse or make a mess of something
Neat — liquor served without ice or mixer
Neat — tidy
Proof — measurement related to alcohol strength
Proof — evidence
Punch — mixed communal drink
Punch — hit someone
Rim — edge of a cocktail glass
Rim — outer edge of anything
Round — drinks purchased for a group
Round — circular
Shot — small serving of liquor
Shot — firing a weapon, photograph, attempt, etc.
Spirit — distilled alcoholic beverage
Spirit — ghost or soul
Stir — mix a cocktail
Stir — cause excitement or trouble
Straight — spirit served without additions
Straight — not curved
Tap — beer-dispensing faucet
Tap — touch something lightly
Toast — drinking salute
Toast — browned bread
Well — inexpensive house liquor
Well — source of groundwater / in good health
Homophones
Same sound, different spelling.
Ale — a type of beer
Ail — to be sick or unwell
Bar — where drinks are served
Barr — a surname
Beer — fermented alcoholic beverage
Bier — a stand or frame used to carry a coffin
Bitter — cocktail flavor or bitters
Bidder — someone making a bid
Booze: a word for alcohol
Boos: disapproving sounds from fans
or the sound Halloween ghosts make
Brewed: fermented grains
Brood: a family of young animals
Brews: more than one beer or a verb meaning cooks something up
Bruise: an injured area
Call: in bar language to call out your liquor preference or a level of liquor at a bar such as well, call, and premium
Caul: the membrane that covers a newborn immediately after birth
Col: French word for a mountain pass
Cask — barrel for aging spirits
Casque — helmet
Draft: beer served on tap
Draft or recruitment into the military, or a preliminary piece of writing, or a current of moving air
Draught: a British checker game or the English spelling for draft or a gust of wind
Flair: a type of bartending where the bartender may flip bottles or do his or her job in a showy way
Flare: a burst of bright flame
Gin: a spirit distilled from grain
Jinn: a Muslim spirit or demon
Lager — type of beer
Logger — person who cuts timber (near-homophone)
Peel: a cocktail garnish
Peal: a prolonged ringing sound from bells or something else
Rum: a spirit distilled from sugarcane
Rhumb: a constant compass direction
Rye: grain used to make liquor
Wry: twisted, bitter, or distorted
Shake: to mix up a drink in a shaker tin of ice
Sheik: Arab prince
Wine — fermented grape beverage
Whine — complain
Wort — liquid extracted during brewing
Wart — skin growth