Homonyms, homophones and homographs

HOMONYMS  HOMOPHONES  HOMOGRAPHS

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 spellings and meanings. 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.

Homographs are words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings and different pronunciations. 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 pronunciations for the exact same word. We are looking for possibilities in the future.

A HOMONYM IS ONE OF A GROUP OF WORDS THAT SHARE THE SAME SPELLING AND THE SAME PRONUNCIATION BUT HAVE DIFFERENT MEANINGS. THIS USUALLY HAPPENS AS A RESULT OF THE TWO WORDS HAVING DIFFERENT ORIGINS. THE STATE OF BEING A HOMONYM IS CALLED HOMONYMY.

A HOMOPHONE IS A WORD THAT IS PRONOUNCED THE SAME AS ANOTHER WORD BUT DIFFERS IN MEANING. THE WORDS MAY BE SPELLED THE SAME, SUCH AS ROSE (FLOWER) AND ROSE (PAST TENSE OF "RISE"), OR DIFFERENTLY, SUCH AS CARAT, CARET, AND CARROT, OR TO, TWO AND TOO.

ALL HOMONYMS ARE HOMOPHONES BECAUSE THEY SOUND THE SAME. HOWEVER, NOT ALL HOMOPHONES ARE HOMONYMS. HOMOPHONES WITH DIFFERENT SPELLINGS ARE NOT HOMONYMS.