jujube
Two nearly identical syllables and then a letter that may or may not be spoken. Jujube is a short word that manages to be ambiguous at both ends: the opening ju can be written four ways in English, and the final e is silent in the fruit and sounded in the sweet named after it.
J-U-J-U-B-E · Ziziphus jujuba
The word reached English through Old French from medieval Latin jujuba, which had already worn the Greek zizyphon down almost past recognition. English kept a final e that it does not pronounce, and that is why half the people who say the word give it two syllables and half give it three.
The Chinese date or red date, a small thorny tree of dry country from the Balkans to China. The fruit is eaten crisp and green like an apple, or left until it wrinkles and turns red brown and eats like a date.