(1) שפה אחת ONE LANGUAGE — The Holy Tongue (Hebrew) (Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 19). (2) ודברים אחדים AND ONE SPEECH — They came with one plan, saying: “He has no right to select the heavenly regions exclusively for Himself; let us ascend to the skies and make war upon Him”. Another explanation (of דברים אחדים which is taken to mean “words referring to “One”): words regarding the Sole Being (God) in the Universe. Another explanation of ודברים אחדים is: they spoke דברים חדים “sharp” words; they said, “Once in every one thousand six hundred and fifty six years (the period that elapsed from the Creation to the Flood) there is a heaven-shaking, just as there was in the days of the Flood. Come. then, and let us make supports for it” (Genesis Rabbah 38:6).
וע"ד השכל ונעשה לנו שם, היו אנשי הפלגה רשעים משכילים בכל חכמה ועשו העיר והמגדל כדי להנצל מהמבול של אש, מפני שכבר ראו אבדון העולם במבול של מים, פחדו לנפשם והוצרכו לעשות בנין מקום שאם ירצה להביא מבול של אש ולשרוף את העולם שינצלו מהם ולא תקרב האש בגבולם....ולקשור חלק מיסוד האש שלא יוכל להתקרב אל העיר, כשם שמצינו אף בדורנו זה קצת החכמים שיודעים כח לקשור חלק אחד מן הברק. [והוא הידוע כעת בשם "דאננעראבלייטער" ונמצא רושם מזה גם בתוספתא שבת פ"ז]
Looking at this story from a rational point of view, the words “and let us make a name for ourselves,” must be understood thus: the people of that generation were very advanced in matters of philosophy and even technology. However, they used their intelligence in a sinful manner. They constructed the city and tower to protect themselves against a deluge of fire, seeing that God had promised not to again bring a deluge of water....They tried to isolate and tame the power of fire in order to neutralize its deadly effect so that it could not engulf their city, as we have found also in our generation that some scholars [scientists] know how to harness some of the strength of lightning. [Editorial note by translator, R. Eliyahu Munk (1998): This is know in our time as "lightning rod," and we can find a mention of this also in Tosefta Shabbat, Chapter 7.]
...And the same words - The text did not explain what those words were, rather, it leaves as a hint, as explained in midrashim. But the words themselves are not explained by the text, it just tells us that they were the same words, to teach us that it wasn't because of the content of the words themselves that the Holy One of Blessing was distressed. ... here what happened is that all thought the same thing, and this came to be the problem of the settlement.