The words subtler, sutler sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Why do subtler, sutler sound the same even though they are completely different words?
The answer is simple: subtler, sutler are homophones of the English language.
comparative form of subtle: more subtle More subtle.
An army camp follower who peddled provisions to the soldiers.
Definitions from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition and Wordnik.
Homophones (literally "same sound") are usually defined as words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of how they are spelled.
If they are spelled the same then they are also homographs (and homonyms); if they are spelled differently then they are also heterographs (literally "different writing").