From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary:
Homonym- one of two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning.
Homophone- one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling.
Calmly, now.... the words have to be spelled alike and pronounced alike to be homonyms; but need only be pronounced alike to be homophones.
That allaboutspelling site is incomplete and a bit ambiguous. Admittedly, some definitions for homonyms allow an "or" instead of an "an" for the spelling and pronunciation, and therein is the confusion. Wikipedia explains the too better, as does the Merriam Webster awn lion dictionary. To give precision to the meaning of homonym, and in looking at its origin, it seems that heat and heat would be homonyms, heat (to make hot) and heat (a grouping of contestants in a race), and also they would be homophones. While meat, meet, and mete would only be homophones....
With this attempt at explaining the too, I'm now dun.
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