Wrack - rack

Rack and wrack form one of the sets of homophones listed by the then Poet Laureate Robert Bridges.
(For more, see Bridges homophones). AWE has a category listing our articles on each of these..

• OED lists nineteen racks, of which
  • no fewer than twelve nouns are written Rack, of which some ('a parrel-rope' (OED's n.1, 'the skin of a young rabbit', 'a fish-trap', 'a measure [240 meshes] of pieces of lace') are marked 'obsolete'. The etymology of many is obscure and possibly interconnected. The essential element in most of these words seems to be 'a bar, or assembly of bars, for astorage, display or confinement'.
  • The earliest record (1343) is of "a vertically barred frame for holding animal fodder, either fixed to a wall or capable of being moved where required in a field or farmyard" (OED 2008, rack, n.4).

(OED 2008, rack, n.2) a. 'a rush'; b. 'a scudding (quickly moving mass fo highcloud'.

mass of *Wrack