In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share
the same spelling and pronunciation but may have different meanings.
Thus homonyms are simultaneously homographs and homophones.
The state of being a homonym is called homonymy.
Examples of homonyms are the pair stalk and stalk and the pair left and left.
A distinction is sometimes made between "true" homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such
as skate and skate, and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin,
such as mouth and mouth.
In non-technical contexts, the term "homonym" may be used to refer to words that are either
homographs or homophones.
In this looser sense, the word row and row and row are considered homonyms, as are the
words read and reed.
Etymology The word homonym comes from the Greek ὁμώνυμος,
meaning "having the same name", which is the conjunction of ὁμός, "common, same" and
ὄνομα meaning "name".
Thus, it refers to two or more distinct concepts sharing the "same name" or signifier.
Note: for the h sound, see rough breathing and smooth breathing.
Related terms
Several similar linguistic concepts are related to homonymy.
These include: Homographs are usually defined as words that
share the same spelling, regardless of how they are pronounced.
If they are pronounced the same then they are also homophones – for example, bark
and bark.
If they are pronounced differently then they are also heteronyms – for example, bow and
bow.
Homophones are usually defined as words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of
how they are spelled.
If they are spelled the same then they are also homographs; if they are spelled differently
then they are also heterographs.
Homographic examples include rose and rose.
Heterographic examples include to, too, two, and there, their, they’re.
Heteronyms are the subset of homographs that have different pronunciations.
Such words include desert and desert; tear and tear; row and row.
Heteronyms are also sometimes called heterophones.
Polysemes are words with the same spelling and distinct but related meanings.
The distinction between polysemy and homonymy is often subtle and subjective, and not all
sources consider polysemous words to be homonyms.
Words such as mouth, meaning either the orifice on one's face, or the opening of a cave or
river, are polysemous and may or may not be considered homonyms.
Capitonyms are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalized.
Such words include polish and Polish; march and March.
However, both polish and march at the beginning of sentences still need to be capitalized.
Further examples A further example of a homonym, which is both
a homophone and a homograph, is fluke.
Fluke can mean: A fish, and a flatworm.
The end parts of an anchor.
The fins on a whale's tail.
A stroke of luck.
These meanings represent at least three etymologically separate lexemes, but share the one form,
fluke.* Similarly, a river bank, a savings bank, a
bank of switches, and a bank shot in pool share a common spelling and pronunciation,
but differ in meaning.
The words bow and bough are examples where there are two meanings associated with a single
pronunciation and spelling; two meanings with two different pronunciations, and two distinct
meanings sharing the same sound but different spellings.
In addition, it has several related but distinct meanings – a bent line is sometimes called
a 'bowed' line, reflecting its similarity to the weapon.
Even according to the most restrictive definitions, various pairs of sounds and meanings of bow,
Bow and bough are homonyms, homographs, homophones, heteronyms, heterographs, capitonyms and are
polysemous.
bow – a long wooden stick with horse hair that is used to play certain string instruments
such as the violin bow – to bend forward at the waist in respect
bow – the front of the ship bow – a kind of tied ribbon
bow – to bend outward at the sides Bow – a district in London
bow -- a weapon to shoot projectiles with bough – a branch on a tree.
Homonyms in historical linguistics Homonymy can lead to communicative conflicts
and thus trigger lexical change.
This is known as homonymic conflict.
See also List of true homonyms
Heterography and homography Synonyms, different words with identical or
very similar meanings Notes
^ Some sources restrict the term "homograph" to words that have the same spelling but different
pronunciations.
See, for example, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems, p. 215 and The Encyclopaedia
Britannica.
^ Some sources restrict the term "homophone" to words that have the same pronunciation
but different spellings.
See, for example, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems, p. 202 and The Encyclopaedia
Britannica.
^ Some sources do not require that heteronyms have different pronunciations.
See, for example, the archived Encarta dictionary entry and the "Fun with Words" website.
References