In Japanese the same word "kumo" is used for cloud and spider. Any ideas on why this is?
by 
Jimmyp
ANSWERS: 3
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because it is a homonym.
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Actually, the intonation is slightly different. The same goes for chopsticks and bridge which are both hashi, persimmon and oyster which are both kaki. One has an accent on the first. However, the intonations are sometimes reversed in the Kansai dialect compared to the Kanto dialect. Most importantly the Kanji for the homonyms are different so when written, there are no problems.
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There is a Japanese folk tale about a spider who turns into a beautiful young woman to become a weaver in gratitude to a farmer, who saved her life from a snake who was going to eat her. She eats cotton the farmer provides to spin into cloth for kimono. When he brings her more cotton, the snake sneaks into the bale, and attempts to eat her once again. As she runs, heavy and slow from the cotton inside her, the sun takes pity on her and lifts her up by a sunbeam caught on the web hanging from her mouth. In gratitude, she spins fluffy white clouds from the cotton, and that is why the word cloud and the word spider are both kumo.
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