The 'words that sound similar' one is ridiculous, and even more ridiculous somehow is the herbs one that you don't accept as an answer, oh dear.

I'm with Conner. You may be thinking of Scarborough fair, but they are herbs and we're not telepathic. Air sounds like heir. Hare sounds like hair. The two sets are NOT homophones. And by the way, "homophones" should be an acceptable answer to that group.

It seems that Conner and Nighteyes prefer grids to be very easy - homophones was not used because they were 'similar' not the 'same'

Words that sound the same or have similar spellings are called homonyms. This would be an acceptable answer on 'Only Connect'. A homophone would not be accepted. It means words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, whereas 'air' and 'hair', for example, are pronounced differently, so I disagree with Nighteyes.

nothing to add that has not been said below