Widebody; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Communication Breakdown
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Chart Or Publication; Human Factors
On arrival to KOAK. Radios were probably 3 by 5 at best speaking to NorCal. They had been working 5 by 5 until this time across the entire country. Suspect it was NorCal radio. Nevertheless; cleared direct to MYFUT to intercept the Localizer to Rwy30 at KOAK. Misunderstood Controller and selected direct MITOE instead. MYFUT is further out on the approach to ILS30 at KOAK. After approximately 30 seconds; the Controller asked if we were proceeding direct MYFUT? We realized our mistake and asked for a heading. He provided it and we turned about 10 degrees left. The remainder of the approach was uneventful. All we both understood was the 'my' portion of the word. Unfortunately; there are 2 points on the same approach to KOAK that are separated by only one other point that starts with the same sound. One is spelled with 'My' & the other is spelled with 'Mi'; but they both sound the same.We should have asked for clarification from the Controller. But I also think; for safety sake; the name of one of the two points should be changed to something that doesn't start with the same sound as the other.
A Medium Transport flight crew misunderstood the clearance; 'Direct to MYFUT' on the ILS30 to KOAK and selected the similar sounding fix; MITOE by mistake.