sleigh/slay -- Is there a term for such a pair?

[Dennis R. Preston]

homophone

>   I received the query below. Can anyone help?  The answer is not
>"homonym," for which both spelling and pronunciation must be
>identical, e.g. "quail" nn. and "quail" verb).
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
>>What is the proper term for two words that sound the same yet are spelled
>>differently and have different meaning. Or, is there a term? If so, I can't
>>recall. If there isn't, there should be. It seems like I recall meeting such
>>a term in my recent past!
>>
>>Example:   sleigh     slay        meet     meat      and so on.
>>
>>Help me out!

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 353-9290