Heteronyms
'Homonyms' are two words that are identical in spelling and in pronunciation,
but entirely different in etymology and meaning: such as I felt the felt
. But what of those that half qualify? A heteronym (or "homograph") is a
word having the same spelling as another, but a different sound and meaning,
according to the Oxford English
Dictionary.
Some entries are linked to an illustrative verse or
quote.
- Affect (verb) and affect (noun, in psychology)
- Agape (a mouth) and agape (theological term for Christian love ,
and also a term for a Church social
event)
- Alternate (adjective) and alternate (verb)
- Appropriate (adjective) and appropriate (verb)
- Bases (plural of basis) and bases (plural of base, but also a near-homonym for basis)
- Bass (fish)
and bass (voice)
- Bow (defer) and bow (for violin)
- Buffet and buffet
- Close (adjective) and close (verb)
- Console (verb) and console (noun)
- Contents (noun) and contents (verb, usually reflexive, third person
singular; but also works in the first person with the singular form of the
noun)
- Contract and contract
- Contrary and contrary
- Converse (verb) and converse (noun)
- Coordinates (verb) and coordinates (mathematical or cartological noun)
- Delegate (verb) and delegate (noun)
- Denier (one who denies something, such as the holocaust) and denier (unit of measurement for the fineness of silk, nylon and other fabrics)
- Desert (noun) and desert (verb), though the latter is a homophone for
dessert (noun)
- Deliberate (adjective) and deliberate (verb)
- Does (verb) and does (plural noun)
- Dogged (one syllable) and dogged (two syllables)
- Dove (the bird) and dove (past tense of dive)
- Entrance (noun) and entrance (verb)
- Essay (noun) and essay (verb)
- Evening (noun) and evening (verb)
- Grave (to rhyme with 'halve') and grave (to rhyme with 'gave')
- Import (verb) and import (noun; for example, close synonym for importance)
- Incense (noun) and incense (verb)
- Invalid (adjective) and invalid (noun)
- Intimate (adjective) and intimate (verb)
- Lead (metal) and lead (verb)
- Lied
(musical noun) and lied (verb, past tense)
- Liver (internal organ) and liver ("a name arbitrarily given to the bird figured in the arms of the city of Liverpool", according to the dictionary).
- Minute (noun) and minute (adjective)
- Moped (noun) and moped (verb, past perfect tense)
- Number (noun) and number (relative form of numb)
- Pace (by the leave of) and pace (footstep/speed)
- Pasty (noun) and pasty (adjective)
- Plaque and plaque
- Present (verb) and present (noun)
- Project (noun) and project (verb)
- Putting (not golf) and putting (golf)
- Recreation and recreation
- Recover (from illness or other misfortune) and recover (while restoring
furniture, for example)
- Refuse (verb) and refuse (noun)
- Routed (in battle) and routed (via a computer network)
- Row (argue, argument) and row (line)
- Severer (more severe) and severer (one who severs)
- Sewer (one who sews) and sewer (sanitation infrastructure)
- Sin (mathematical) and sin (theological). This is a triple heteronym, according to someone who knows better than I how to pronounce Sin, the Akkadian god of the moon.
- Skied (past tense of ski) and skied (an old cricketing term, according to the OED)
- Slough (verb) and slough (noun)
- Sow (noun)
and sow (verb)
- Supply (verb or noun) and supply (adverb from 'supple'; this spelling is
preferable to 'supplely', according to the Oxford Spelling Dictionary.)
- Swinging and swinging (alternative spelling of 'swingeing', according to the OED)
- Tear (verb) and tear (noun)
- Tier (noun, one who ties something) and tier (noun, a level or layer)
- Unionized (meaning formed a union) and unionized (reverse of ionized)
- Wind (noun) and wind (verb, to rhyme with bind)
- Whooping (in which the 'h' is silent) and whooping, in which the 'w' is
silent. Since the latter only occurs in 'whooping cough', this is a one-trick heteronym.
- Worsted (yarn or fabric) and worsted (opposite of bested)
- Wound (noun) and wound (past tense of wind)
- Zoon (two syllables; scientific noun) and zoon (one syllable; verb, meaning a style of preaching or praying)
The following heteronyms seem to me to be artificial, in that one form only occurs
in crosswords:
- Flower (as in horticulture) and flower (something that flows, such as a river)
- Shower (as in rain) and shower (someone who shows)
- Tower and tower (one who tows)
The Oxford Engish
Grammar notes that heteronyms include "a number of words where the stress varies
in speech according to whether the word is functioning either as a verb or as a
noun or adjective", and lists
- Conduct
- Convict
- Permit
- Rebel
- Absent
- Perfect
and readers of this web page have contributed:
- Abuse and abuse
- Alloy and alloy
- Analyses (noun) and analyses (verb, British spelling)
- Attribute and attribute
- Conflict and conflict
- Construct and construct
- Contest and contest
- Contrast and contrast
- Convert and convert
- Discard and discard
- Elaborate (adjective) and elaborate (verb)
- Excuse and excuse
- Frequent and frequent
- Graduate and graduate
- House and house
- Impact and impact
- Imprint and imprint
- Lives and lives
- Mandate and mandate
- Object and object
- Precipitate and precipitate
- Produce and produce
- Progress and progress
- Protest and protest
- Recoil and recoil
- Record and record
- Reject and reject
- Retard and retard (the noun form being American)
- Separate and separate
- Subject and subject
- Survey and survey
- Suspect and suspect
- Syndicate and syndicate
- Torment and torment
- Use and use
and the following Americanism:
Here are some variations on this:
- chassis (singular) and chassis (plural)
- degenerate (verb) and degenerate (adjective or noun)
- learned (verb, past tense, one syllable) and learned (adjective, two syllables)
- live (verb) and live (adjective)
- read (verb, present tense) and read (verb, past tense)
Another subgroup is heteronym pairs in which one word is capitalised
(typically, a proper noun), and the other is not:
- August (adjective) and August (proper noun)
- Begin and begin
- Degas and degas
- Job and job
- Natal and natal
- Nice and nice
- Noel (the feast of Christmastide) and Noel (name)
- Oregon. A resident of the American state tells me that it is pronounced "Oregin", which makes it a heteronym for the (several) towns that are pronounced "Oregon".
- Polish and polish
- Rainier and rainier
- Reading and reading
- Seat (the car) and seat
According to the dictionary (draft revision published online 2003) Noel in the sense of "the feast of Christmas tide" is an English word,
but Noël in the sense of a Christmas carol derives from the French and is therefore sometimes seen with an umlaut.
This leads to one more list of heteronyms: those
arising when a foreign word is absorbed into the English language:
- Double
- and double as in double entendre
- Lame
- and lamé
- Pot
- English noun; or, 'pot pourri' (the latter pronunciation is a one-trick word)
- Resume
- and resumé.
- Sake
- English noun; or, rice wine
Note that accents are sometimes omitted when a word is captialised.
Most recent additions, June 2008, marked
thus; most recent correction, also May 2008, was the removal of 'Real' from the foreign-language section. Thanks PB for pointing out that the 'Real' in 'Real Madrid' is not the coin.
Additions and corrections to richard@onetrickwords.com
please.
Wordplay compiled by Richard Stevens, University of Oxford.