Homonymy, Homophones and Homographs

Homonymy, Homophones and Homographs

1.homonym

A homonym is a word that is said or spelled the same way as another word but has a different meaning. "Write” and “right” is a good example of a pair of  homonyms. Continue reading...

2.homophone

A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and/or spelling. “Flower” and “flour” are homophones because they are pronounced the same but you certainly can’t bake a cake using daffodils.

3.homograph

Use the noun homograph to talk about two words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and are pronounced differently — like "sow," meaning female pig, and "sow," to plant seeds. Continue reading...

Homonyms, homophones and homographs can bring confusion to even adults and teachers! Vocabulary Spelling City can help anyone master these word groups. For clarity, we've brought them all together on one page. It makes it easier to learn the difference among the three types of words using the definitions and homonyms, homophones and homographs examples below

Homonyms	Homophones	Homographs
Multiple meaning words	Words that sound alike	Same spelling, different pronunciation, different meanings
the spruce tree...  to spruce up...	addition for math  edition of a book	desert = abandon  desert = area of land
suit yourself...  wore a suit...	I want to go  I like it too  One plus one is two	bass = fish  bass = instrument
weigh on the scale...  scale the wall...	capitol building  state capital	close = nearby  close = to shut
the price is fair...  go to the fair...	pick a flower  bake with flour	bow = to bend down  bow = ribbon

1.      Homonyms

Homonyms, or multiple meaning words, are words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings. For example, bear.

·         A bear (the animal) can bear (tolerate) very cold temperatures.

·         The driver turned left (opposite of right) and left (departed from) the main road.

Homophones, also known as sound-alike words, are words that are pronounced identically although they have different meanings and often have different spellings as well. These words are a very common source of confusion when writing. Common examples of sets of homophones include: to, too, and two; they're and their; bee and be; sun and son; which and witch; and plain and plane. Vocabulary Spelling City is a particularly useful tool for learning to correctly use and spell the sound alike words.

2.      Homophone

A homophone is one of two or more words that are pronounced the same but differ in their meaning, origin, or spelling. The difference between homographs and homophones is that homophones must be pronounced alike. They don’t need to be spelled alike; in fact, many of them are not. But they need to be pronounced the same.

There are many many examples of homophones. Some are new and knew, carat and caret, complement and compliment, to, too, and two, there, their, and they’re, etc.

To sum up.

• Homonyms can refer to both homographs and homophones.
• Homographs are words that are spelled alike but not always pronounced the same.
• Homophones are words that are pronounced alike but not always spelled the same.

3. Homographs

Homographs are words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings and are often pronounced differently as well. Some examples of homographs are:

·         bass as in fish vs bass as in music

·         bow as in arrow vs bow as in bending or taking a bow at the end of a performance

·         close as in next to vs close as in shut the door

·         desert as in dry climate vs desert as in leaving alone.

Currently, Vocabulary Spelling City cannot distinguish between homographs, as we are unable to have two pronounciations for the exact same word. We are looking for possibilities in the future.