What is the word for the letter "U"? I know letters in the English alphabet have names: B=bee, C=cee, H=aitch, J=jay, and so on. Here's why I want to know: a guy I work with has claimed there are four elements to this homophone: wright, rite, right, & write, and that is the only homophone with four spellings. A lot rides on my finding that "U" is spelled differently from you, ewe, or yew.

davy jones

I can't think of another spelling (but wait -- surely others will chime in). I do want to tell you how wonderful I think it is to have a co-worker who thinks about such things!

Welcome.

Dear wentworth: I searched but was unable to find "names" for the letters, Just short
approximations of how they are said. My dictionary gives pronunciation "yoo".
Isn't that as good as the "names" you gave?

I'd have to agree with dr. bill: there is no "standard" spelling, esp. for the vowels, which you could say spell their own name!

Hi Wentworth,
"U" is spelled differently from you, ewe, or yew. Your bet hinges on the question of whether a letter of the alphabet is a bona fide word, because homophones refer to words. Your concept of "names" for letters is probably not widely accepted.

Your concept of "names" for letters is probably not widely accepted.

OED lists cee as the name for the letter C and aitch for the letter H. I found no letter names starting with double and a few others I would have expected to find, namely jay and ay, were absent, but certainly the concept of letter names is not totally unknown. Greek, Hebrew and Arabic have full up sets of registered letter names.

Yeah, I know 'name' was not a particularly apt designation, and I really didn't mean it as a concept; 'word' is the word I meant. Thanks.

davy jones

'name' was not a particularly apt designation

I don't see anything wrong with 'name', but that's not the point of the question. The question is whether there are more homophones with four or more variant spellings than just [rait].

[rait]

or [r {small-letter-which-looks-like-a-capital-lambda} it] if you're Canadian.

If you're still around, wentworth, you might consider, ay, aye, eye and I. They're all in Merriam-Webster, but be warned that you have to go to the second entry on aye to get the homophonic one.

Dear wentworth: Faldage is giving yew good advice.