Lecture 28: Specialty Words for Language
z A few common homophone pairs include the following: blue/blew,
faint/feint, haul/hall, patience/patients, and NHUQHO/colonel.Homograph (noun)One of two or more words that are spelled the same but have different
pronunciations and meanings.z BassLVDFRPPRQKRPRJUDSKWKDWUHIHUVWRERWKD¿VKDQGDODUJH
stringed instrument. Other homographs include bow (“a stringed
weapon” and “to bend in respect”) and minute (“a 60-second unit of
time” and “very small”).Homonym (noun)One of two or more words that are spelled and pronounced the same but
carry different meanings.z An easy way to remember homonyms is that they have
characteristics of both homographs and homophones.z An example of a homonym pair is bear/bear. Both words are
spelled and pronounced the same, but one refers to an animal, and
the other means “to endure.” Because homonyms are spelled the
same and sound the same, the only way to know which word a
writer or speaker intends is from the context.z You can remember the word homonym from its word elements.
Again, homo means “same,” and oynm is from the Greek word
onuma, meaning “name.” Thus, homonyms are words that have
the same “name”—the same spelling and sound—even though they
have different meanings.z Why does English have word pairs that are spelled the same and
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homonyms are actually two different words, derived from two