It ’s gruelling enough to keep duo ofnearly identical wordsstraight . heavily still is remember which term — homophone , homograph , orhomonym — describes them . Part of the confusion stems from the want of consistency in the way of life people utilize the full term . But here ’s an overview of the baseline making for each one .
AsMerriam - Webster explain , homophonesare two or more words that sound the same , but have different meaning and/or spellings . This technically would intend thatdonutanddoughnutare homophones , because they sound the same but have unlike spelling . But usually when people speak about homophone , they ’re have-to doe with to words that sound the same but mean different things . Some are spell the same , likebat(as inbaseball bat ) andbat(thewinged mammal ) . Others aren’t — liketo , too , andtwo . Homophones with dissimilar meaningsanddifferent spelling are sometimes known asheterographs .
Homographs , meanwhile , are two or more wrangle that are spelled the same , but have dissimilar import and/or pronunciations . alike to thedonut - versus - doughnutsituation , this would propose that any Bible with multiple pronunciation qualifies as a homograph—e.g.pecan , pronounced “ PEE - kan ” or “ pih - KAHN . ” Buthomographis more often used to draw two words that look the same but mean different matter . Some are pronounce the same , likedate(the day of the month ) anddate(the fruit ) . Others aren’t — liketear(rhyming withhair ) andtear(rhyming withnear ) . homograph with dissimilar meaningsanddifferent orthoepy are sometimes known asheteronyms .
And yes , there ’s quite a bit of overlap between the two categories . Any row that are spelled and judge identically but have separate meanings are both homographs and homophones — includingbat / batanddate / date . Here ’s wherehomonymscome in : To some hoi polloi , homonym are any words that qualify as both homograph and homophone . Others consider it more of anumbrella termthat includes all homographs and homophones .
Here ’s a ready to hand chart to help you tell your homophone from your homograph ( and everything else ):
Term
Definition
Examples
homophone
quarrel that sound the same but have unlike meaning and/or spellings
away vs. quaternary , pen ( write utensil ) vs. pen ( enclosure )
Heterographs
homophone with different meaning and different spellings
off vs. fourth
Homographs
word that are spell the same but have different meanings and/or pronunciations
pen ( writing utensil ) vs. pen ( inclosure ) , wound ( rime with ' hound ' ) vs. wound ( rhyming with ' tuned ' )
Heteronyms
Homographs with unlike substance and unlike pronunciations
wound ( rhyming with ' hound ' ) vs. wound ( rime with ' tuned ' )
Homonyms
tidings that are both homophone and homographs ( i.e. words with dissimilar meanings , but identical pronunciations and spellings ) ; or , an umbrella term for any kind of homophone or homograph
pen ( write utensil ) vs. pen ( enclosure )
