Scribd
Upload
32 views

What Is The Difference Between

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, like there/their/they're. Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, like bass the fish and bass the instrument. Homonyms can refer to both homophones and homographs. Homophones always have different meanings but may be spelled the same or differently, while homographs always have the same spelling but different meanings and can be pronounced the same or differently. Examples of homophones and homographs are then provided to illustrate the differences between these three related linguistic concepts.

Uploaded by

elvie serida
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
32 views

What Is The Difference Between

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, like there/their/they're. Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, like bass the fish and bass the instrument. Homonyms can refer to both homophones and homographs. Homophones always have different meanings but may be spelled the same or differently, while homographs always have the same spelling but different meanings and can be pronounced the same or differently. Examples of homophones and homographs are then provided to illustrate the differences between these three related linguistic concepts.

Uploaded by

elvie serida
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

What is the difference between homophones, homonyms,

and homographs?

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings,
like there/their/they’re and its/it’s.
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Homographs can
be pronounced differently (like bass the fish and bass the instrument) or the same
(like fair meaning “equitable” or “a carnival”).
Homonyms is often used to refer to all such words in general. Some words, like bark, fall into
more than one category—bark on a tree and bark of a dog are both homophones (sounding the
same) and homographs (being spelled the same), for example.
Homophone, homonym, and homograph all start with homo-, which means “same.”
The -phone in homophone means “sound.”
homophones are words that sound the same. Homophones always have different
meanings, but they may be spelled the same or differently. Bear (the animal)
and bare (meaning “uncovered” or “empty”) are homophones. But so are bark (the
sound a dog makes) and bark (the covering of a tree). And the different senses
of bear (the animal and the verb meaning “to carry”).

The -graph in homograph means “written.” Homographs are words that are written the
same—meaning they always have the same spelling—but have different meanings.
Homographs can be pronounced the same or not. For example, bass (the fish, rhymes
with class) and bass (the instrument, rhymes with ace) are homographs. But so are the
different senses of bark and bear.

Take a closer look at the homonym pair bare vs. bear.


Homonym examples
As we’ve just explained, the term homonym can refer to both a homophone and
a homograph, so we’ve broken them down into two separate lists. The items from both
lists can be broadly referred to as homonyms. But for clarity, it’s best to use the
term homophones when referring to words that sound the same and homographs when
referring to words that are spelled the same. Still, there are examples that fit into both
categories, such as the different senses of bark and bear discussed earlier.

Homophone examples
Here are just some of the many examples of homophones in English:
• there | their | they’re
• to | too | two
• its | it’s
• your | you’re
• whose | who’s
• by | buy | bye
• I | eye
• see | sea
• dear | deer
• bare | bear
• hair | hare
• here | hear
• air | heir
• where | wear
• pair | pear | pare
• fair | fare
• right | write | rite
• sight | site | cite
• steal | steel
• plain | plane
• sale | sail
• break | brake
• know | no
• week | weak
• add | ad
• meet | meat
• sell | cell
• great | grate
• piece | peace
• eight | ate
• one | won
• flower | flour
• for | four | fore
• our | hour
• wait | weight
• night | knight
• male | mail
• son | sun
• board | bored
• hole | whole
• sweet | suite
• tail | tale

Homograph examples
It’s impossible to count how many words are homographs because so many words
have more than one meaning.
We’ll separate this list into homographs that are pronounced differently and those that
are pronounced the same. There are far fewer examples of ones that are pronounced
differently.

Homographs that are pronounced differently


Here are several examples of homographs whose pronunciation is different.
• minute (the noun meaning “60 seconds”; the adjective meaning “very small”)
• bass (the fish; the instrument)
• Polish (from Poland) and polish (to make something shiny)
• bow (the noun referring to a ribbon tied in a decorative way; the verb
meaning to bend reverently)
• close (the adjective meaning “nearby”; the verb meaning “to shut”)
• lead (the metal; the verb meaning “to act as a leader”)
Homographs that are pronounced the same
Here are some of the many, many homographs that sound the same, along with some
of their common meanings (in many cases, there are multiple other meanings).
• bear (the animal; the verb meaning “to carry”)
• ring (a circle; a type of jewelry; what a phone does)
• fan (the appliance that makes wind; an admirer/appreciator)
• band (music group; a ring or strap)
• bat (the animal; a baseball bat)
• kind (the adjective meaning “nice”; the noun meaning “type”)
• part (a component of something; a line in one’s hair; the verb meaning “to
separate”)
• park (a noun meaning an outdoor space; a verb meaning what you do to a
car)
• class (lesson; category; classiness)
• fair (equitable or according to the rules; a carnival)

You might also like