Why are *accept* and *except* commonly misspelled as each other? Are they homophones?
Solution 1:
The phonetic difference is in an unstressed syllable, and English in general tends to reduce unstressed syllables toward the mid-central schwa sound. In some accents these words are homophones. In others, except is pronounced with a near-close, near-front /ɪ/ or an open-mid front /ɛ/, but in casual or rapid speech, they may be difficult or impossible to distinguish from a mid-central /ə/.