You might be so inclined as to say yes without an hesitation. But think about this for a moment. What is a word?
If it's a certain chain of character, then two different spellings ought to be two different words.
Then you might say it's not the spelling that counts, but the meaning. But synonyms are not considered the same word: hound is not the same word as dog for instance.
Or perhaps will you say that two words are the same if their pronunciation is identical. But then again, homonyms are not considered the same word: for instance flour and flower, or beta and beater.
As a last resort you might contend that two words are the same if they are pronounced the same and have the same meaning. In that case, should one consider lode and load -- which are pronounced the same and can both mean a large amount of something -- to be the same word?
color and colour.
@oldgreycollie said in #2:
> color and colour.
That was just what I was about to post
@oldgreycollie said in #2:
> color and colour.
Upon which definition of the word "word" are you justifying that these two words are the same word?
It seems that when a word does have two different spellings, it is usually because it has the British version and the American version. Take "Toward" and "Towards" for example.
@Telecaster12 said in #5:
> It seems that when a word does have two different spellings, it is usually because it has the British version and the American version. Take "Toward" and "Towards" for example.
This raises the question of whether two different languages (in this case: British English and American English) can have the same ''word''. Consider for instance the word "chef", that was directly borrowed from the French. In English, it means a cook. However in French it means a chief. So, is "chef" in English the same word as "chef" in French?
@CoffeeBeanKiller
You have a good point there, but if they do mean the same thing, does the language matter? Chef in english and chef in french of different, but aren't, say, color and colour the same?
@Telecaster12 said in #7:
> @CoffeeBeanKiller
>
> You have a good point there, but if they do mean the same thing, does the language matter? Chef in english and chef in french of different, but aren't, say, color and colour the same?
But as I argued in my first post, having the same meaning is not enough to conclude that two words are the same. And even having the same meaning and same pronunciation might not be enough (not to mention that American speakers might pronounce 'color' in a different way than British speakers say 'colour').
So what "rule" do we use to recognise that color and colour are in fact the same word?
Humor and humour,Grey and gray,aluminum and aliminium
@Dukedog said in #9:
> Humor and humour,Grey and gray,aluminum and aliminium
Cf supra.