Definition
 Homonyms
are words which are spelled the same,
but which have different meanings.
The
word is made up of two words from Greek.
Homo
= 'the same' + onymia = 'name'.
Examples
bear |
an animal |
bore |
a tedious person |
bear |
to carry |
bore |
to drill a hole |
down |
at a lower part |
draft |
preliminary sketch |
down |
bird's feathers |
draft |
a money order |
Use
The apparent similarities
in these words sometimes causes confusion – particularly to
non-native speakers.
Such
words may or may not have the same origins.
Strictly
speaking, homonyms may be broken down into two different categories
- homographs and homophones.
Homographs are
words which have the same spelling, but which are pronounced differently:
lead |
a heavy metal |
lead |
to walk in front |
wind |
air movement |
wind |
to coil |
One
reason for these similarities is that spelling is
only a rough approximation to pronunciation.
Homophones are
words which are pronounced in the same way, but which have different spellings:
threw |
flung |
through |
from end to end |
bow |
incline from the waist |
bough |
large tree-branch |
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