Do these three words have the same meaning?「そーじ 」、「ソージ 」、「掃除」

Question

These three words are pronounced the same, but do they also have the same meaning?

1. そーじ
2. ソージ
3. 掃除

Answer 1

In terms of pronunciation, these could all be read as the same word. Though instead of writing そーじ one generally would write そうじ.

But in terms of meaning, my dictionary lists eight different entries for そうじ only one of which is 掃除.

Context matters in Japanese. Some of these homophones are very technical. Such as 僧寺 or 奏事 and quite a few others are listed that I can't get my computer to easily render. (I put homophones in italics because I'm a nonnative speaker and I'm unsure of the pitch accent of these words, but since pitch accent is not apparent in hiragana that's perhaps not a detraction.)

Context will determine these things. If you say,

うちのそうじ

you most likely will be understood to be saying

うちの掃除

and not one of the other several homophones.

You might want to look at this link to understand better how/why hiragana, katakana, or kanji are used in various siutations.