Here we have a trio of words that sound the same (at least in American English) but mean very different things: medal, meddle, and mettle.

A medal is a disc made of metal with an inscription or image. It is generally used as an award or a commemoration of an event:

‎Maplewood Officers Receive Medal Of Valor

Special Olympics duo wins gold medal in golf‎

To meddle is to interfere with someone or something:

Belarus will not let any other country meddle in its December presidential election.

Politicians meddle with existing taxation arrangements at their peril.

Finally, mettle is a quality or qualities that help a person in a difficult situation. Those qualities might include courage, ardor, and stamina:

Madison native tests his mettle in “Hell’s Kitchen”

Test of mettle: How the Steelers can win without Roethlisberger

‎If you don’t speak American English, you might be wondering why mettle makes this list. In American English, when a t appears in an unstressed syllable between two vowels—or between a vowel and an l, as is the case here—that t is said with a flap of the tongue similar to how we say d. Linguists call it a “medial flap.” The same thing happens in betting, metal, noted, writing and many other words.