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Topic : How to write a character misinterpreting Four Candles as Fork Handles English is full of homophones that can cause confusion when speaking, but if the two similar sounding words are spelled differently - selfpublishingguru.com

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English is full of homophones that can cause confusion when speaking, but if the two similar sounding words are spelled differently they can be clarified as soon as they are written down. However, this causes an issue when attempting to deliberately write about someone hearing the incorrect words, because as soon as they are put onto the page Schrodinger's box is opened and the reader knows exactly which version is actually being said aloud.
From a limited perspective, it can be written as the POV character hears the words, but I feel that as soon as the misunderstanding is revealed it can completely jar the reader as they realize that they have deliberately been misled. For example, written from the perspective of the shopkeeper:

A man entered the shop and approached the counter, "good day sir, I would like four candles please."
"Of course, not a problem," the shopkeeper fetched four candles from the shelf and placed them on the counter.
"No, I asked for fork handles. Handles for forks."

As soon as the reader sees this they will realize that, whilst the listener could have easily misinterpreted the speaker accidentally, the writer purposefully decided to choose the opposite way to write it than was intended by the speaker, which means that the reader doesn't get the same chance to have their own interpretation of the phrase spoken.
I did think about the possibility of sewing an element of doubt into the writing, for example:

A man entered the shop and approached the counter, "good day sir, I would like four candles please."
"Of course, not a problem," the shopkeeper was quite sure that he had heard the customer correctly, so he went to fetch four candles from the shelf, and then placed them on the counter.
"No, I asked for fork handles. Handles for forks."

The issue with this is that as soon as the writing focuses on the opportunity for the character to misinterpret what he hears, it almost certainly means that he has heard incorrectly. If he hadn't misheard, there would be no reason for the writer to mention it, which means the surprise is taken from the reader when it is revealed.
Is there any good way to write down a homophone that still leaves the correct (and incorrect) interpretation open to the reader?

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Be minimalist, and write what an outside observer would hear.
It's worth noting that even in the Fork 'Andles sketch, Ronnie B. is saying very little. He's not having a long conversation that would help us get a handle on his accent; he's just grunting the things he needs.
Telling this from Ronnie C's perspective, you wouldn't even allow for the possibility of mishearing until later in the text. Something like:

He unfolded a grubby piece of paper and squinted at it.
"Fou' candles," he said in a rough workers accent.
"Four candles?" I confirmed, turning to gather the requested items. I set the candles on the counter and said "There you are. Four candles.
The man just stared at them.
"Nah, fou' candles. 'Andles fer forks."
Fork handles he meant. Stupid blighter.

Later, with the man's accent more firmly fixed, we can play with it.

"Got any ose?"
Ose? I took a moment to parse that through his silly accent, with its dropped aitches, added in the fork handles, and realised what he meant. Hoes.
Gardening tools were on the other side of the shop. I set a fine hoe down in front of him, and he gave it a blank stare.
"No, ose."
"Oh, hose! I thought you meant hoes. Y'mean hose y' should've said that..."
I collected a reel of garden hose and dropped it in front of him.
"No, ose."
It was my turn to stare blankly. "Well what do...oh, you mean hose, panty hose!" Luckily we did have a pack of tights nearby. I grabbed it and brought it.
"No, ose, ose. O's for the gate, mon repose. Le'er O's."

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In the particular instance, for the joke to work Ronnie C had to be speaking in a certain accent for Ronnie B to misunderstand him, because 'four candles' and 'fork handles' are not generally homophonic. So you have to make sure the 'h' is dropped and that the accent doesn't differentiate the 'fou' and 'for' as Ronnie c's native accent would.
So for this instance you would have to devise a way of writing the words phonetically which also disguised the spelling.
IPA is probably the way to go, but I'm not versed in it so am falling back on some random googling to suggest that if: Fork Handle is 'fɔːk ˈhand(ə)l'
and Four candles is 'fɔːˈkand(ə)l' then perhaps you can run them together to something like 'fɔːkˈand(ə)l'

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