ACR STARTS TKOF AT HOU; TX; AFTER ACCEPTING A CLRNC FOR A COMPANY ACFT WITH A SIMILAR CALL SIGN. REJECTED TKOF WAS THE RESULT.

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TWR GAVE US 'COMPANY XYZ POS AND HOLD RWY 12R FOR SPACING.' AS WE SET BRAKE; WE THOUGHT WE HEARD 'COMPANY XYZ; R TURN; R TURN YOU ARE CLRED FOR TKOF.' I RESPONDED; 'COMPANY XYZ R TURN; R TURN CLRED FOR TKOF RWY 12R.' WE NEXT HEARD 'TWR; COMPANY XXZ; VERIFY THAT CLRNC WAS FOR US.' WE ABORTED IMMEDIATELY (FROM TAXI SPD) AND CALLED 'COMPANY XYZ ABORTING.' TWR INSTRUCTED US TO CLR TO R AND TAXI BACK TO END; WHICH WE DID. COMPANY XXZ TOOK OFF AND THEN WE DID. FACTORS: 1) IT APPEARS WE TOOK THEIR SIMILAR CALL SIGN. WE MADE A MISTAKE. 2) TAXIING OUT; WE WERE TOLD TO ANTICIPATE A L TURN. THE 'R TURN; R TURN' HELPED TO SUCK US IN. 3) WE WERE NOT TOLD 'TFC DEPARTING XING RWY' WHEN WE WERE PUT IN POS. 4) THE TWR DID NOT STATE THE RWY TO MY KNOWLEDGE. AFTER A SIMILAR INCIDENT AT HOBBY 13 YRS AGO (I WAS THE CLRED ONE); I STARTED ALWAYS USING CALL SIGN AND RWY ON TWR FREQ. IF WE ALL USED CALL SIGN AND RWY ON TWR FREQ; WOULD IT NOT BE A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION TO AVOID SUCH INCIDENTS? I EVEN MENTIONED THIS TO THE DIRECTOR OF TRAINING AT THE COMPANY 2 MONTHS AGO. HE LIKED THE IDEA AND SAID HE WOULD LOOK INTO IT. BOTTOM LINE: WE SCREWED UP. COMPANY XXZ SAVED OUR TAILS. MORE HEADS UP IN THE FUTURE IS THE ANSWER BESIDES MAYBE CALL SIGN AND RWY; TOO.