Here in this article, you will explore different concepts of Homophone, Homograph, and Homonyms. I tried to explain all these concepts in simple language, providing ample examples of each so as to make it very clear and precise in terms of understanding the concept and using the fun and pun part of Homophones.
So let’s get started.
HOMOPHONE
A homophone is a combination of two words”Homo” and “Phone”. Homo means similar and phone means the sound. So we can clearly understand now that homophone is a pair of words with a similar sound but different spellings and different meanings. Thus, the basic feature of a homophone is similar sound or pronunciation. Let’s see the following examples to clear our concept of Homophone.
- Carrot vs carat
- Ant vs Aunt
- Buy vs Bye
- Hole vs Whole
- Waist vs Waste
- Break vs Brake
- Cell vs Sell
- Foul vs Fowl
- Genes vs Jeans
- Fair vs Fare
- Bare vs Bear
- Merry vs Marry
- Bored vs Board
- Won vs One
- See vs Sea
- Hair vs Hare
- Write vs Right
- Father vs Farther
- Die vs Dye
- Council vs Counsel
- Altar vs Alter
- Coarse vs Course
- Knight vs Night
- Sole vs soul
- Cent vs scent
- Weather vs Whether
- Hear vs Here
- Idle vs Idol
- Tale vs Tail
- Poor vs pour
- Floor vs Flour
- Deer vs Dear
- Mail vs Male
- Ball vs Bawl
- Compliment vs Complement
So from the above examples, it’s quite clear that homophones are spelled differently and carry very different meanings but they sound almost similar.
HOMOGRAPH
Homographs are words carrying different meanings in different contexts. Simply, it means words spelled similarly, pronounced similarly but carry different meanings. A homograph is again a combination of two individual words “homo” meaning ” “same” and “graph” meaning “written”, so when we read this together we learn homographs are words written or spelled similarly but vary greatly in their meanings.
Mentioned below are few examples of homograph which will make your concept even more clear.
- BOW: A weapon to shoot arrow / To bend at the waist
- WOUND: Past tense of wind / Injury
- OBJECT: To disapprove / Non-living thing
- CLOSE: To shut down / Very near
- TEAR: To rip apart / Water coming down of eyes
- SIGN: Symptoms / Signature
- FIT: Tantrums / Match
- SPRING: A season / To bounce
- MEAN: Cruel / To imply
- BAT: A piece of sports equipment / An animal
- BOARD: To board a flight or train / Blackboard, whiteboard
Now let’s move forward to Homonyms.
HOMONYMS
If we strictly go by the dictionary meaning then homonyms are both homographs and homophones. If we clearly understand the definition, homonyms are words with identical spelling and pronunciation but differ in meanings. Thus, they are photographs (same spelling regardless of pronunciation) and homophones (same pronunciation regardless of different spellings). A homonym is a Homograph and a Homonym simultaneously.
- LIE: Untruth / To recline
- BARK: The sound a dog makes / Trees outer layer
- EXPRESS: To do something quite fast / To express one’s views
- POUND: An unit of measurement / To beat
- REAM: A pile of paper / To juice a citrus fruit
- ROCK: A stone / A genre of music
- TIRE: A part of the wheel / To grow fatigued
- JAG: A sharp, jutted object / A crying spree
- CAN: A metal container / Able to
Here is a simple trick to understand a homonym. If you come across a word that does not make sense in that context then check its alternate definition. The word can be a homonym that is, spelled similarly, pronounced similarly but vary meaning wise. It is the duty of the writer to use the pun part of homonyms aptly to convey the meaning readily to the readers.
| HOMOPHONE Same sound Different spelling Different meaning | HOMOGRAPH Almost same sound Same spelling Different meaning | HOMONYMS Same sound Same spelling Different meaning |
Understanding the concept of homophone can be quite tricky, no matter how proficient you are in English, it’s quite natural to fall in the tricky quirks of homophones. So, homophones are generally termed as ‘confusing words’. I hope this article helps you with understanding it in a simple and easy manner.
Priyanka is a creative content and copywriter with 3+ years of experience. She writes SEO content in diverse niches both technical and non-technical. She has served clients from 5 different countries including the USA, UK and Australia. She is known for her simple yet compelling copy and informational blogs. An empathic writer to scale your business with the power of words.
See the social media links below to know more about the author.
