Air carrier flight crew reported of confusion over a waypoint that was in their flight plan. ATC had...

Attributes
ACN	1312359
Time
Date	201511
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZKC.ARTCC
State Reference	KS
Environment
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Check Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

Waypoint was missing in the flight plan; 'hestn'; which was to be inserted between 'odate' and irk. Flight plan check was accomplished by crew and observed by myself. All waypoints were reported as 'checked' by the first officer. Check mark was observed in the flight plan next to 'hestn' as being checked. Became aware of mistake when ATC asked why 'hestn' was in our flight plan strip and he insinuated that it did not belong there and he would fix our route. We were actually proceeding to irk. Of note: there are two close waypoints in this flight plan with the same pronunciation. One is 'hston' and the other is 'hestn.' this is causing confusion and believe it contributed to this error.waypoints with same pronunciation but different spelling in the flight plan that were close together. Needing to pay closer attention and CRM red flagging this situation as a potential got you.[recommend] renaming same sounding waypoints that are within 150nm of each other.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier flight crew reported of confusion over a waypoint that was in their flight plan. ATC had another waypoint that was spelled differently. This caused confusion and being off course.

Narrative: Waypoint was missing in the flight plan; 'HESTN'; which was to be inserted between 'ODATE' and IRK. Flight plan check was accomplished by crew and observed by myself. All waypoints were reported as 'checked' by the FO. Check mark was observed in the flight plan next to 'HESTN' as being checked. Became aware of mistake when ATC asked why 'HESTN' was in our flight plan strip and he insinuated that it did not belong there and he would fix our route. We were actually proceeding to IRK. Of note: There are two close waypoints in this flight plan with the same pronunciation. One is 'HSTON' and the other is 'HESTN.' This is causing confusion and believe it contributed to this error.Waypoints with same pronunciation but different spelling in the flight plan that were close together. Needing to pay closer attention and CRM red flagging this situation as a potential got you.[Recommend] renaming same sounding waypoints that are within 150nm of each other.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Air carrier flight crew reported of confusion over a waypoint that was in their flight plan. ATC had another waypoint that was spelled differently. This caused confusion and being off course.