Among Other Things: If you aren't confused by now, you should be

It's understandable why many immigrants prefer to continue to speak their native language. English can be downright confusing.

I'll give you a few examples:

Lead can be pronounced led and led lead, but not led lead.

And how 'bout read? Read can be red and red can be read, but never is red read read unless you mis-read red read instead of read.

Even the simplest words can be defined differently — such as "can." There's can the helping verb; can, the verb to preserve vegetables and fruits; can, the noun as in tin or aluminum, and can the colloquial term for bathroom; or can, the slangy term meaning to terminate employment, score a basket, discard something. Then there's can-can, the lively dance.

You could say, "Before I do the can-can, I can can some beans, can the lazy hired hand (laborer not fist), open a can of soup and run to the can."

Among other homonymous words of diverse definition are won and one, which reminds me when playing basketball with the kids I never won one-on-one. Among others are fair and fare; piece and peace; pair and pare; peal and peel; fairy and ferry; ail and ale; lien and lean; seen and scene; bail and bale; pail and pale; hail and hale; mail and male; two, to and too, not to mention tutu; while and wile; which and witch; sight, site and cite; dear and deer; bare and bear; mite and might; write, rite and right; beer and bier; turn and tern; aid and ade; lo and low; slay and sleigh; bin and been; wine and whine; faint and feint; steel and steal; stake and steak; load and lode; board and bored; rumor and roomer.

Remember the song "Rumors Are Flying?" A person just learning the language hearing that might think that the boarding house just exploded.

And there are the different meanings to the word sweep. Can't you just picture the bride with a broom sweeping up the aisle (not isle) as she approaches the groom (the husband-to-be, not the stable hand) as he waits for her at the altar (not alter).

Those are just a few. How many more can you think of?