in mandarin, the most famous example ""mā má mǎ mà" ()" has four different words each pronounced in exactly the same way but with four different tones. if numbers identify the tones, they can be written m"a1 ma2 ma3 ma4", which means "mom hemp horse scold." some ways of romanization mark each tone by a different spelling; "ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4" in pinyin would be written "ma mha maa mah" in gwoyeu romatzyh. most use numbers or accent marks ("mā má mǎ mà" in pinyin). there is a passage called (). it has 92 characters; all read the same way in mandarin ("shi") but with different tones.