Only a sharp Medical Transcriptionist can remain undaunted by the word bugs. It is not achieved over a night. It requires keen listening, logical reasoning, and excellent vocabulary. As mentioned in the previous blog, homophones can cause serious damage to the sentence than homograph. Homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word, which has different meaning and/or spelling.

The patient is not sure whether it is the weather that causes the itching. We can’t imagine a sentence with words italicized used one for the other, or even worse, with words “wether or wither” instead of “whether or weather”.

Fortunately or unfortunately, every language has homonyms and homophones. To a great extent, they contribute to the richness of a language. Any Medical Transcriptionists, especially the beginners, will find it a nightmare if their vocabulary, whether English or Medical, is very much limited.

Homonyms have same spelling and often have same pronunciation, but have different meaning, mostly depending on the parts of speech. In medical transcription, as long as the spelling is right, it might not cause any problem. This is not the case with homophones. Homophones or sound-alike words differ in meaning, origin, and spelling.

For example, the patient, accompanied by his niece, comes in complaining of pain in his knees