Word meaning use different words

Words, phrases, and expressions can have different meanings in different contexts. The study of these different meanings is known as semantics. This branch of study examines four qualities of word meaning – denotative, figurative, metaphorical, and connotative – which will be described below.

Denotation – The definition of a word that we find in the dictionary, its literal or direct meaning, is known as its denotative meaning. Have a look at the following words, listed with their denotative meanings:

• bat : (noun) a small mammal with wings that sleeps during the day
• snake : (noun) a long, scaly reptile without legs that sometimes carries venom
• slim : (adj) slender or thin

Figurative meaning – When words are used metaphorically as “figures of speech,” they have figurative meaning. Figures of speech are widely used in English. Take a look at the following examples of figurative meaning:

• I told you a million times to stop doing that! (to tell many times)
• I’m so hungry I could eat a cow. (to be very hungry)
• That cost me an arm and a leg! (to be very expensive)
• He was as brave as a lion. (to be very brave)
• Sitting through that class was like watching paint dry. (class was very boring and slow)

Words with Multiple Meanings

How many times have you opened a dictionary to look up a word, and discovered that the word has only one meaning listed beside it? Essentially never, right? Almost every word in the English language has multiple meanings and may function as multiple parts of speech.

For example:

rose

• It’s time to prune the rose bush. (adjective)
• I gave the dancer a rose. (noun)
• I rose from the bench and walked home. (verb)

part

• I like to part my hair neatly. (verb)
• She only read one part of the book. (noun)
• My mom is Kenyan, so I am part Kenyan. (adjective)

Words with multiple meanings often fall into one of the two categories:

• Homonyms – Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings.
• Homographs – Words with the same spelling, but different pronunciation and different meanings.

Take a look at the lists of homonyms and homographs below.

Homonyms

crane:

• Cranes are beautiful birds. (noun – bird)
• The crane was used to lift the steel bars to the top of the building. (noun – machine)
• She had to crane her neck to see the movie. (verb – stretch out)

date:

• Dried dates are one of the most delicious snacks. (noun – fruit)
• Diego went out on a date last Saturday. (noun – social appointment)
• What date is Thanksgiving this year? (noun – day of the month)

engaged:

• My brother got engaged to his girlfriend this weekend. (adjective – agree to marry)
• The teacher chose very engaging topics to keep the students interested. (adjective – appealing)

leaves:

• The leaves change colors in autumn. (noun – from trees)
• My dad eats cereal every day before he leaves for work. (verb – present)

point:

• The knife has a sharp point. (noun – tip of an object)
• Can you point to the person you saw stealing? (verb – hand gesture)

right:

• You were right about the weather; it’s been pouring rain all day. (adjective – correct)
• Take a right at the next traffic light. (adjective – direction)

Homographs

read:

• I read books before I go to sleep. (present tense)
• He read a book last night before he went to sleep. (past tense)

minute:

• Our problems seem minute compared to those who face war and uncertainty on a daily basis. (adjective – small)
• Stir for a minute and then turn the heat down on the stove. (noun – 60 seconds)

learned:

• We learned how to use the present perfect continuous in class last week. (verb – past)
• My teacher is a very learned individual who went to Oxford. (adjective – educated)

does:

• He does his homework in the morning before school starts. (verb – present)
• The hunters were chasing does in the forest. (noun – female deer)

wind:

• The wind blew all the chairs over in the backyard. (noun – moving air)
• Make sure you wind up the clock after you put the turkey in the oven. (verb – present)

Connotations

Connotations are the feelings, associations, and ideas that certain words invoke beyond their literal or primary definition. These are often culturally based.

Connotations can be negative, positive, or neutral. For example:

• childish: The way he acted at dinner was childish and silly.
• woman: I know that woman over by the bar.
• stunning: The dress that she wore to the dinner party was stunning.

The first example, “childish,” has a negative connotation which implies that the person in question acted immaturely. Saying that an adult is acting “childishly” is not a compliment, but is rather insulting, connoting a lack of maturity, responsibility, and wisdom. If an adult is described as “childlike,” however, the connotation is positive.

The second example, “woman,” has a neutral connotation, implying nothing more than the fact that the person in question is female. The word does not imply that she is intelligent, unintelligent, good-hearted, mean-spirited, or anything else. In effect, neutral connotations are better thought of as not having connotation so much as simple, literal meaning.

The last example, “stunning,” has a positive connotation, implying that the dress is beautiful or gorgeous, which can only be interpreted as complimentary.

Here are some more examples of negative, positive, and neutral connotations:

• cheap – (negative) a person who does not like to spend money.
• thrifty – (positive) a person who is careful with money.
• young – (neutral) a person who is of a young age.
• youthful – (positive) a person who may not be young, but has all the good qualities of youth.
• childish – (negative) a person who behaves like a child in a negative way.
• thin – (neutral) a body size that is the opposite of fat.
• slim – (positive) a body size which is thin and also healthy and elegant.
• skinny – (negative) a body size which is so thin as to appear unhealthy.
• inactive – (neutral) doing nothing.
• laid-back – (positive) to have a relaxed attitude.
• lazy – (negative) avoiding work and effort

False Friends

False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages that look or sound alike but have significantly different meanings. These types of words present a problem for native speakers of Romance (Latin-based) languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese.

There are numerous false friends which are broken into three wide-ranging categories:

1. Words with a common root but which have evolved different meanings over time:

actuel (French for “current“) – actual (English for “true“)

1. Words that appear similar but are entirely unrelated to each other:

pain (French for “bread“) – pain (English for “physical suffering“)

1. Words with a common root, but alternate meanings :

porc (French for “pig” and “pig meat”) – pork (English for only “pig meat”)

These similarities result in students using words they assume to be the similar to words in their native language, but which might be quite different. This leads to errors in speaking and writing, and confusion in listening and reading.

Take a look at some common “false friend” confusions by Spanish, French, and Finnish EFL students:

1. asistir (Spanish for “to attend/be present“) – assist (English for “to help“)
2. avertissement (French for “warning/caution“) – advertisement (English for “public announcement“)
3. harmonikka (Finnish for “accordion“) – harmonica (English for “harmonica“)

The
definition of the word meaning
presents no less difficulty than the definition of the word itself.
The word meaning
renders the emotion or the concept in the mind of the speaker which
he wants to convey to the listener in the process of
communication. By
concept we understand any discrete unit of human cognition. The
word being a unit of language enters a number of combinations with
other units stands in functional relations to other linguistic signs.
Thus the meaning of the word not only fixes concepts by way of
generalizing and reflecting reality, but it is realized on contexts
and combinations. The meaning of the word is not homogeneous. It is
closely connected with the object it names and the concept it fixes.
It is also connected with the sound form besides it is realized in
different relations with other concepts. There are two main
approaches to word meaning: 1. relative approach, according to which
each linguistic sign (word) gets its meaning only in some semantic
field or paradigmatic relations. 2. the referential or denotational
approach, according to which the meaning of the word is autonomous,
it’s an integral part of the word, though is realized in contexts
and this approach is shown as a triangle (symbol – the word,
concept – thought; referent – object, denoted by the word).

28 Word meaning and motivation.

The
relationship between morphemic structure and meaning is termed
morphological motivation. The main criteria in morphological
motivation is the relationship between morphemes. All one-morpheme
words (look, eat) are non-motivated. Such words as writer, worker are
described as motivated. Phonetic motivation is represented by such
words as swish, boom, splash. Beside grammatical and lexical meanings
some linguists also distinguish the co-called structural meaning,
i.e. words in a sentence are joined together according to some
specific rules (a diggled-boggle, a boggled diggle). Motivation is
the relationship existing between the morpheme or phonemic
composition and the structural pattern of the word, on the one hand,
and its meaning on the other. The words are motivated: 1.
Structurally (a shoe-maker), but sometimes due to the character of
the lexical meaning of a morphological motivation becomes rather
relevant or weak (flower-girl); 2. Phonetically (swish, boom); 3.
Semantically (the dawn of life). Sometimes motivation of the words
may be lost: a) one of the elements of compound words dropped out of
usage (mermaid – русалка,
mere – море);
b) the loss of the primary meaning of the word (spoon – щепка).

34
Homonyms.
Definition, formal classification. Homonyms
are words
which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of
these aspects, but different in their meaning.E. g. bank, n. —a
shore,bank, n. —an
institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding
money. ball, n. —a
sphere; any spherical body,ball, n. —a
large dancing party. Homonyms which are the same in sound and
spelling are traditionally termed homonyms
proper. Bean, n.
and been, Past
Part, of to
be are
homophone- they
are the same in sound but different in spelling. Homographs- words
which are the same in spelling but different in sound(lead v – show
smb the way, lead n – a heavy, rather soft metal). When analysing
different cases of homonymy we find that some words are homonymous in
all their forms, i.e. we observe full h. of the paradigms of two or
more different words, e.g., in seal₁ —‘a
sea animal’ and seal₂ —‘a
design printed on paper by means of a stamp’. When only some of the
word-forms(seal, seals, etc.) are homonymous, whereas others(sealed,
sealing) are not, we can speak of partial
h. — find,
found, found, and found, founded, founded.

.lexico-grammatical
classification of homonyms. Homonyms
may be also classified by the type of meaning into lexical,
lexico-grammatical and grammatical homonyms.
In seal₁ n and seal₂ n, e.g.,
the part-of-speech meaning of the word and the grammatical meanings
of all its forms are identical (seal [si:l] Common Case Singular,
seal’s [si:lz] Possessive Case Singular for both seal₁ and
seal₂). The
difference is confined to the lexical meaning only: seal₁ denotes
‘a sea animal’,‘the fur of this animal’,etc., seal₂—‘a
design printed on paper,the stamp by which the design is made’etc.
So we can say that seal₂ and
seal₁ are
lexical homonyms because they differ in lexical
meaning.If
we compare seal₁—‘a
sea animal’, and (to) seal₃—‘to
close tightly, we shall observe not only a difference in the lexical
meaning of their homonymous word-forms but a difference in their
grammatical meanings as well. Identical sound-forms, i.e.
seals[si:lz] (Common Case Plural of the noun) and (he) seals[si:lz]
(third person Singular of the verb) possess each of them different
grammatical meanings. As both grammatical and lexical meanings differ
we describe these homonymous word-forms as lexico-grammatical. Modern
English abounds in homonymic word-forms differing in grammatical
meaning only. e.g. brother’s —brothers —the
Possessive Case Singular and the Common Case Plural. It
may be easily observed
that grammatical
homonymy is
the homonymy of different
word-forms of one and the same word.

Sources
of homonyms. The
two main sources of h. are:1.diverging
meaning development
of a polysemantic word. This process can be observed when different
meanings of the same word move so far away from each other that they
come to be regarded as two separate units.
Ex.: flower and flour originally
were one wordmeaning ‘the flower’ and ‘the finest part of
wheat’.2.convergent
sound development of
two or more different words. Ex, OE. ic
and OE. еаzе have
become identical in pronunciation(ME. I
and eye). A number of lexico-grammatical homonyms appeared as a
result of convergent sound development of the verb and the noun
(MnE.love — (to)
love and OE. lufu
— lufian). Words
borrowed from other languages may through phonetic convergence become
homonymous. ONorse. ras
and Fr. race
are homonymous in Modern English (race₁ [reis]
— ‘running’ and race₂ [reis] —
‘a distinct
ethnical stock’).

35
Types of
Synonyms. The role of synonyms it the development of the
vocabulary.The
only existing classification system for synonyms was established by
Academician Vinogradov, the famous Russian scholar. In his
classification system there are three types of
synonyms: ideographic (which
he defined as words conveying the same concept but differing in
shades of meaning), stylistic (differing
in stylistic characteristics) and absolute (coinciding
in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic
characteristics) A more modern and a more effective approach to the
classification of synonyms may be based on the definition describing
synonyms as words differing in connotations.

36
The themantic
groups and semantic fields. Classification
of vocabulary items into thematic
groups is
based on the co-occurrence of words in certain repeatedly used
contexts. In linguistic contexts co-occurrence maу be
observed on different levels. On the level of word-groups the
word question, for
instance, is often found in collocation with the verbs raise,
put forward, discuss, etc.,
with the adjectives urgent,
vital, disputable and
so on. The verb
accept occurs
in numerous contexts together with the nouns proposal,
invitation, plan and
others.As a rule, thematic groups deal with contexts on the level of
the sentence. Words in thematic groups are joined together by common
contextual associations within the framework of the sentence and
reflect the interlinking of things or events. Common contextual
association of the words,
e.g. tree—grow—green;journey—train—taxi—bags—ticket
or sunshine—brightly—blue—sky, is
due to the regular co-occurrence of these words in a number of
sentences. Words making up a thematic group belong to different parts
of speech and do not possess any common denominator of meaning.
Contextual associations formed by the speaker of a language are
usually conditioned by the context of situation which necessitates
the use of certain words. When watching a play, for example, we
naturally speak of the actors who act the
main parts, of
good (or bad)
staging of
the play, of the wonderful scenery and
so on. When we go shopping it
is usual to speak of the prices, of the
goods we buy, of the
shops. Words
may be classified according to the concepts underlying their meaning.
This classification is closely connected with the theory of
conceptual or semantic
fields.
By the term “semantic fields” we understand closely knit sectors
of vocabulary each characterised by a common concept. For example,
the words blue,
red, yellow, black, etc.
may be described as making up the semantic field of colours, thewords
mother, father, brother, cousin, etc.
— as members of the semantic field.In
practical lang. learning thematic groups are often listed under
various headings, e. g. “At the Theatre”, “At School”,
“Shopping”, and are often found in textbooks and courses of
conversational English.The members of the semantic fields are not
synonyms but all of them are joined together by some common semantic
component — the
concept of colours or the concept of kinship, etc. It is argued that
we cannot possibly know the exact meaning of the word if we do not
know the structure of the SF to which the word belongs, the number of
the members and the concepts covered by them.It should also be
pointed out that different meanings of polysemantic words make it
possible to refer the same word to different lexico-semantic groups.
Thus, e.g. make in
the meaning of ‘construct’ is naturally a member of the same
lexico-semantic group as the verbs produce,
manufacture, etc , whereas
in the meaning of compel it
is regarded as a member of a different lexico-semantic group made up
by the verbs force,
induce.

37
Semantic
contrasts and antonymy. General problems(contrast, contradiction)The
term antonyms indicate words of the same category of parts of speech
which have contrasting meanings. And nearly identical in distribution
associated and used together so that their implication aspects render
contrary or contradictory notion:love-hate, early-late. The
opposition here is obvious, each component means the opposite of the
other. Almost every word can have synonyms comparatativly, few have
antonyms. Antonyms apposition is characterized of a)qualitative
adj-s:new-old, big-little. b)word derived from word qualitative
adj-s:gladly-sadly, sadness-gladness. c)words concern with feeling or
state and their derivatives:triumph-disaster, hope-dispair. d)words
denoting directions and position in space: up-down, far-near.
Polysemantic words may have antonyms in some of their meanings and
none in the others. E.g.a shot/long story, a short/tall man. Not so
many years ago antonymy was not universally accepted as a linguistic
problem, and the opposition within antonymic pairs was regarded as
purely logical and finding no reflection in the semantic structures
of these words. The contrast between heat and cold or big and small,
said most scholars, is the contrast of things opposed by their very
nature. Nowadays most scholars agree that in the semantic structures
of all words, which regularly occur in antonymic pairs, a special
antonymic connotation can be singled out. We are so used to coming
across hot and cold together, in the same contexts, that even when we
find hot alone, we cannot help subconsciously registering it as not
cold, that is, contrast it to its missing antonym. Contradictions
represent the type of semnantic relantions that exist between pairs
like dead and alive) single and married.

Classification
of antonyms. Depending
on the type of polarity ant-s are usually classified into absolute
and derivational. Absolute ant-s are words regularly contrasted as
homogeneous members connected by copulative, disjunctive and
adversative conjunctions or parallel constructions: good or bad,
right or wrong. Derivational a. are formed with the help of affixes
dis, un, less, ful:selfish-unselfish, useless-useful. The
contradiction is expressed morphologically and symantically too.
Absolute ant-s can be arranged into a series according to increasing
difference in one of the qualities:young-middle aged-old;
love-resentment-hate. A-s mostly form pairs not groups.

38
Connotations
of synonyms.I.The
connotation of degree
or intensity can
be traced in such groups of synonyms as to surprise — to astonish —
to amaze — to astound; to shout — to yell — to bellow — to roar.
IIconnotation of duration:
to stare — to glare — to gaze — to glance — to peep — to peer. all
the synonyms except to glance denote a lasting act of looking at smb
or smth, whereas to glance describes a brief, passing look. IIIThe
synonyms to stare — to glare — to gaze are differentiated from the
other words of the group by emotive connotations,
and from each other by the nature of the emotion they
imply. In the group alone — single — lonely — solitary, the adjective
lonely also has an emotive connotation. IV.
The evaluative connotation
conveys the speaker’s attitude towards the referent, labelling it as
good or bad. So in the group well-known — famous — notorious —
celebrated, the adjective notorious bears a negative evaluative
connotation and celebrated a positive one. V.The causativeconnotation
can be illustrated by the examples to sparkle and to glitter given
above: one’s eyes sparkle with positive emotions and glitter with
negative emotions. VI.The connotation of manner can
be singled out in some groups of verbal synonyms. The verbs to stroll
— to stride — to trot — to pace — to swagger — to stagger — to
stumble all denote different ways and types of walking,. VII.The
verbs to peep and to peer is the connotation of attendant
circumstances.
VIII.The synonyms pretty, handsome, beautiful have been mentioned as
the ones which are more or less interchangeable. Yet, each of them
describes a special type of human beauty: beautiful is mostly
associated with classical features and a perfect figure, handsome
with a tall stature, a certain robustness and fine pro portions,
pretty with small delicate features and a fresh complexion. This
connotation may be defined as the connotation of attendant
features.
IX.Stylistic connotations.
Examples :Meal. Snack, bite (coll.), snap (dial.), repast,
refreshment, feast (formal).

39
Sources
of synonyms. Euphemisms. 1)borrowings:
to ask(eng)-to question(fr)-interrogate(lat); to
gather(eng)-assemble(fr)-collect(lat) 2)dialects or
variations(amer)radio-(british)wireless; (irish)lass-(eng)girl; 3)new
formations with a post positive: to postphone-to put off, to
return-to come back, to betray-to give a way; 4)word-building by
means of :a)synonymas, affixes:changeable-changefull; b) composition
and affixation:trader-tradesman; c)affixation and
conversion:saying-say; 5) by means of shortening:microfone-mike,
doctor-doc; 6) a special groups of synonymas is comprised by the
Euphemisms. There are words in every language which people
instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate,
rude, too direct or impolite. As the «offensive» referents,
for which these words stand, must still be alluded to, they are often
described in a round-about way, by using substitutes called
euphemisms. The
word lavatory has
produced many euphemisms:powder
room,washroom,restroom,retiring room,(public) comfort station,
ladies’ (room),gentlemen’s (room),water-closet,w.c., public
conveniences and
even Windsor. Pregnancy: in
an interesting condition,in a delicate condition,in the family
way,with a baby coming,(big) with child,expecting. Drunk:
intoxicated (form.),under the influence (form.),tipsy,mellow, fresh,
high, merry, flustered, overcome, full (coll.), drunk as a lord
(coll.), drunk as an owl (coll.), boiled (sl.), fried (sl.), tanked
(sl.), tight (sl.), stiff (sl.), pickled (sl.), soaked (sl.), three
sheets to the wind (sl.), high as a kite (sl.), half-seas-over (sl.),
etc. All the euphemisms that have been described so far are used to
avoid the so-called social taboos. Their use is inspired by social
convention. Euphemisms
may be:a) based on some social or ethical standard of behavior not to
hurt other people’s feelinfs: poor-underprivilaged
disaipled-invalid; 2) the requinment of style:to die-to join the
majority, to pass away, to go west; 3)religious taboo:the name of
God-good heavens.

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  1 слайд

  Word Meaning
  Lecture # 6
  Grigoryeva M.

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  2 слайд

  Word Meaning

  Approaches to word meaning

  Meaning and Notion (понятие)

  Types of word meaning

  Types of morpheme meaning

  Motivation

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  3 слайд

  Each word has two aspects:

  the outer aspect
  ( its sound form)
  cat

  the inner aspect
  (its meaning)
  long-legged, fury animal with sharp teeth
  and claws

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  4 слайд

  Sound and meaning do not always constitute a constant unit even in the same language

  EX a temple

  a part of a human head
  a large church

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  5 слайд

  Semantics (Semasiology)
  Is a branch of lexicology which studies the
  meaning of words and word equivalents

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  6 слайд

  Approaches to Word Meaning
  The Referential (analytical) approach

  The Functional (contextual) approach

  Operational (information-oriented) approach

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  7 слайд

  The Referential (analytical) approach
  formulates the essence of meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and things or concepts they denote

  distinguishes between three components closely connected with meaning:
  the sound-form of the linguistic sign,
  the concept
  the actual referent

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  8 слайд

  Basic Triangle
  concept (thought, reference) – the thought of the object that singles out its essential features
  referent – object denoted by the word, part of reality
  sound-form (symbol, sign) – linguistic sign
  concept – flower

  sound-form referent
  [rәuz]

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  9 слайд

  In what way does meaning correlate with
  each element of the triangle ?

  In what relation does meaning stand to
  each of them?

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  10 слайд

  Meaning and Sound-form
  are not identical
  different
  EX. dove — [dΛv] English sound-forms
  [golub’] Russian BUT
  [taube] German
  the same meaning

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  11 слайд

  Meaning and Sound-form
  nearly identical sound-forms have different meanings in different languages
  EX. [kot] Russian – a male cat
  [kot] English – a small bed for a child

  identical sound-forms have different meanings (‘homonyms)
  EX. knight [nait]
  night [nait]

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  12 слайд

  Meaning and Sound-form
  even considerable changes in sound-form do not affect the meaning

  EX Old English lufian [luvian] – love [l Λ v]

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  13 слайд

  Meaning and Concept
  concept is a category of human cognition

  concept is abstract and reflects the most common and typical features of different objects and phenomena in the world

  meanings of words are different in different languages

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  14 слайд

  Meaning and Concept
  identical concepts may have different semantic structures in different languages

  EX. concept “a building for human habitation” –
  English Russian
  HOUSE ДОМ

  + in Russian ДОМ
  “fixed residence of family or household”
  In English HOME

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  15 слайд

  Meaning and Referent

  one and the same object (referent) may be denoted by more than one word of a different meaning
  cat
  pussy
  animal
  tiger

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  16 слайд

  Meaning
  is not identical with any of the three points of the triangle –
  the sound form,
  the concept
  the referent

  BUT
  is closely connected with them.

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  17 слайд

  Functional Approach
  studies the functions of a word in speech
  meaning of a word is studied through relations of it with other linguistic units
  EX. to move (we move, move a chair)
  movement (movement of smth, slow movement)

  The distriution ( the position of the word in relation to
  others) of the verb to move and a noun movement is
  different as they belong to different classes of words and
  their meanings are different

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  18 слайд

  Operational approach
  is centered on defining meaning through its role in
  the process of communication

  EX John came at 6
  Beside the direct meaning the sentence may imply that:
  He was late
  He failed to keep his promise
  He was punctual as usual
  He came but he didn’t want to

  The implication depends on the concrete situation

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  19 слайд

  Lexical Meaning and Notion
  Notion denotes the reflection in the mind of real objects

  Notion is a unit of thinking
  Lexical meaning is the realization of a notion by means of a definite language system
  Word is a language unit

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  20 слайд

  Lexical Meaning and Notion
  Notions are international especially with the nations of the same cultural level

  Meanings are nationally limited

  EX GO (E) —- ИДТИ(R)
  “To move”
  BUT !!!
  To GO by bus (E)
  ЕХАТЬ (R)

  EX Man -мужчина, человек
  Она – хороший человек (R)
  She is a good person (E)

• 

  21 слайд

  Types of Meaning
  Types of meaning

  grammatical
  meaning

  lexico-grammatical
  meaning
  lexical meaning
  denotational
  connotational

• 

  22 слайд

  Grammatical Meaning
  component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words

  EX. girls, winters, toys, tables –
  grammatical meaning of plurality

  asked, thought, walked –
  meaning of past tense

• 

  23 слайд

  Lexico-grammatical meaning
  (part –of- speech meaning)
  is revealed in the classification of lexical items into:
  major word classes (N, V, Adj, Adv)
  minor ones (artc, prep, conj)

  words of one lexico-grammatical class have the same paradigm

• 

  24 слайд

  Lexical Meaning
  is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions

  EX . Go – goes — went
  lexical meaning – process of movement

• 

  25 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Group the words into 3 column according to the grammatical, lexical or part-of –speech meaning
  Boy’s, nearest, at, beautiful,
  think, man, drift, wrote,
  tremendous, ship’s, the most beautiful,
  table, near, for, went, friend’s,
  handsome, thinking, boy,
  nearer, thought, boys,
  lamp, go, during.

• 

  26 слайд

  Grammatical
  The case of nouns: boy’s, ship’s, friend’s
  The degree of comparison of adj: nearest, the most beautiful
  The tense of verbs: wrote, went, thought

  Lexical
  Think, thinking, thought
  Went, go
  Boy’s, boy, boys
  Nearest, near, nearer
  At, for, during (“time”)
  Beautiful, the most beautiful

  Part-of-speech
  Nouns—verbs—adj—-prep

• 

  27 слайд

  Aspects of Lexical meaning
  The denotational aspect

  The connotational aspect

  The pragmatic aspect

• 

  28 слайд

  Denotational Meaning
  “denote” – to be a sign of, stand as a symbol for”

  establishes the correlation between the name and the object
  makes communication possible

  EX booklet
  “a small thin book that gives info about smth”

• 

  29 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Explain denotational meaning

  A lion-hunter
  To have a heart like a lion
  To feel like a lion
  To roar like a lion
  To be thrown to the lions
  The lion’s share
  To put your head in lion’s mouth

• 

  30 слайд

  PRACTICE

  A lion-hunter
  A host that seeks out celebrities to impress guests
  To have a heart like a lion
  To have great courage
  To feel like a lion
  To be in the best of health
  To roar like a lion
  To shout very loudly
  To be thrown to the lions
  To be criticized strongly or treated badly
  The lion’s share
  Much more than one’s share
  To put your head in lion’s mouth

• 

  31 слайд

  Connotational Meaning
  reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about
  it is optional – a word either has it or not

  Connotation gives additional information and includes:
  The emotive charge EX Daddy (for father)
  Intensity EX to adore (for to love)
  Imagery EX to wade through a book
  “ to walk with an effort”

• 

  32 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Give possible interpretation of the sentences

  She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang.
  Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking!
  He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man.
  The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve.
  He was longing to begin to be generous.
  She was a woman with shiny red hands and work-swollen finger knuckles.

• 

  33 слайд

  PRACTICE
  Give possible interpretation of the sentences
  She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang.
  (pain—dissatisfaction that makes her suffer)
  Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking!
  (make loud sharp sound—-the behavior that implies that the person is frightened)
  He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man.
  (to go at slow speed—was suffering or was ill)
  The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve.
  (to move smth towards oneself— to try to attract smb’s attention)
  He was longing to begin to be generous.
  (to start doing— hadn’t been generous before)
  She was a woman with shiny red hands and work-swollen finger knuckles.
  (colour— a labourer involved into physical work ,constant contact with water)

• 

  34 слайд

  The pragmatic aspect of lexical meaning

  the situation in which the word is uttered,
  the social circumstances (formal, informal, etc.),
  social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough, etc.),
  the type and purpose of communication (poetic, official, etc.)

  EX horse (neutral)
  steed (poetic)
  nag (slang)
  gee-gee (baby language)

• 

  35 слайд

  PRACTICE
  State what image underline the meaning

  I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind.
  You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that.
  They seized on the idea.
  Bill, chasing some skirt again?
  I saw him dive into a small pub.
  Why are you trying to pin the blame on me?
  He only married her for her dough.

• 

  36 слайд

  PRACTICE
  State what image underline the meaning
  I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind.
  (to understand completely)
  You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that.
  (to behave humbly in order to win favour)
  They seized on the idea.
  (to be eager to take and use)
  Bill, chasing some skirt again?
  (a girl)
  I saw him dive into a small pub.
  (to enter suddenly)
  Why are you trying to pin the blame on me?
  (to blame smb unfairly)
  He only married her for her dough.
  (money)

• 

  37 слайд

  Types of Morpheme Meaning
  lexical
  differential
  functional
  distributional

• 

  38 слайд

  Lexical Meaning in Morphemes
  root-morphemes that are homonymous to words possess lexical meaning
  EX. boy – boyhood – boyish

  affixes have lexical meaning of a more generalized character
  EX. –er “agent, doer of an action”

• 

  39 слайд

  Lexical Meaning in Morphemes
  has denotational and connotational components
  EX. –ly, -like, -ish –
  denotational meaning of similiarity
  womanly , womanish

  connotational component –
  -ly (positive evaluation), -ish (deragotary) женственный — женоподобный

• 

  40 слайд

  Differential Meaning
  a semantic component that serves to distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphemes

  EX. cranberry, blackberry, gooseberry

• 

  41 слайд

  Functional Meaning
  found only in derivational affixes
  a semantic component which serves to
  refer the word to the certain part of speech

  EX. just, adj. – justice, n.

• 

  42 слайд

  Distributional Meaning
  the meaning of the order and the arrangement of morphemes making up the word
  found in words containing more than one morpheme
  different arrangement of the same morphemes would make the word meaningless
  EX. sing- + -er =singer,
  -er + sing- = ?

• 

  43 слайд

  Motivation
  denotes the relationship between the phonetic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other

  can be phonetical
  morphological
  semantic

• 

  44 слайд

  Phonetical Motivation
  when there is a certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those produced by animals, objects, etc.

  EX. sizzle, boom, splash, cuckoo

• 

  45 слайд

  Morphological Motivation
  when there is a direct connection between the structure of a word and its meaning
  EX. finger-ring – ring-finger,

  A direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes
  EX think –rethink “thinking again”

• 

  46 слайд

  Semantic Motivation
  based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word

  EX a watchdog –
  ”a dog kept for watching property”

  a watchdog –
  “a watchful human guardian” (semantic motivation)

• 

• 

  48 слайд

  Analyze the meaning of the words.
  Define the type of motivation
  a) morphologically motivated
  b) semantically motivated

  Driver
  Leg
  Horse
  Wall
  Hand-made
  Careless
  piggish

• 

  49 слайд

  Analyze the meaning of the words.
  Define the type of motivation
  a) morphologically motivated
  b) semantically motivated
  Driver
  Someone who drives a vehicle
  morphologically motivated
  Leg
  The part of a piece of furniture such as a table
  semantically motivated
  Horse
  A piece of equipment shaped like a box, used in gymnastics
  semantically motivated

• 

  50 слайд

  Wall
  Emotions or behavior preventing people from feeling close
  semantically motivated
  Hand-made
  Made by hand, not machine
  morphologically motivated
  Careless
  Not taking enough care
  morphologically motivated
  Piggish
  Selfish
  semantically motivated

• 

  51 слайд

  I heard what she said but it didn’t sink in my mind
  “do down to the bottom”
  ‘to be accepted by mind” semantic motivation

  Why are you trying to pin the blame on me?
  “fasten smth somewhere using a pin” –
  ”to blame smb” semantic motivation

  I was following the man when he dived into a pub.
  “jump into deep water” –
  ”to enter into suddenly” semantic motivation

  You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that
  “to move along on hands and knees close to the ground” –
  “to behave very humbly in order to win favor” semantic motivation

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Word Meaning Lecture # 6 Grigoryeva M.

Word Meaning Approaches to word meaning Meaning and Notion (понятие) Types of word meaning Types of morpheme meaning Motivation

Each word has two aspects: the outer aspect ( its sound form) cat the inner aspect (its meaning) long-legged, fury animal with sharp teeth and claws

Sound and meaning do not always constitute a constant unit even in the same language EX a temple a part of a human head a large church

Semantics (Semasiology) Is a branch of lexicology which studies the meaning of words and word equivalents

Approaches to Word Meaning The Referential (analytical) approach The Functional (contextual) approach Operational (information-oriented) approach

The Referential (analytical) approach formulates the essence of meaning by establishing the interdependence between words and things or concepts they denote distinguishes between three components closely connected with meaning: the sound-form of the linguistic sign, the concept the actual referent

Basic Triangle concept – flower concept (thought, reference) – the thought of the object that singles out its essential features referent – object denoted by the word, part of reality sound-form (symbol, sign) – linguistic sign sound-form [rәuz] referent

In what way does meaning correlate with each element of the triangle ? • In what relation does meaning stand to each of them? •

Meaning and Sound-form are not identical different EX. dove — [dΛv] English [golub’] Russian [taube] German sound-forms BUT the same meaning

Meaning and Sound-form nearly identical sound-forms have different meanings in different languages EX. [kot] Russian – a male cat [kot] English – a small bed for a child identical sound-forms have different meanings (‘homonyms) EX. knight [nait]

Meaning and Sound-form even considerable changes in sound-form do not affect the meaning EX Old English lufian [luvian] – love [l Λ v]

Meaning and Concept concept is a category of human cognition concept is abstract and reflects the most common and typical features of different objects and phenomena in the world meanings of words are different in different languages

Meaning and Concept identical concepts may have different semantic structures in different languages EX. concept “a building for human habitation” – English Russian HOUSE ДОМ + in Russian ДОМ “fixed residence of family or household” In English HOME

Meaning and Referent one and the same object (referent) may be denoted by more than one word of a different meaning cat pussy animal tiger

Meaning is not identical with any of the three points of the triangle – the sound form, the concept the referent BUT is closely connected with them.

Functional Approach studies the functions of a word in speech meaning of a word is studied through relations of it with other linguistic units EX. to move (we move, move a chair) movement (movement of smth, slow movement) The distriution ( the position of the word in relation to others) of the verb to move and a noun movement is different as they belong to different classes of words and their meanings are different

Operational approach is centered on defining meaning through its role in the process of communication EX John came at 6 Beside the direct meaning the sentence may imply that: He was late He failed to keep his promise He was punctual as usual He came but he didn’t want to The implication depends on the concrete situation

Lexical Meaning and Notion denotes the Lexical meaning is reflection in the realization of a mind of real objects notion by means of a definite language system Notion is a unit of Word is a language thinking unit

Lexical Meaning and Notions are Meanings are internationally limited especially with the nations of the same EX GO (E) —- ИДТИ(R) cultural level “To move” BUT !!! To GO by bus (E) ЕХАТЬ (R) EX Man -мужчина, человек Она – хороший человек (R) She is a good person (E)

Types of Meaning Types grammatical meaning of meaning lexico-grammatical meaning lexical meaning denotational connotational

Grammatical Meaning component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words EX. girls, winters, toys, tables – grammatical meaning of plurality asked, thought, walked – meaning of past tense

Lexico-grammatical meaning (part –of- speech meaning) is revealed in the classification of lexical items into: major word classes (N, V, Adj, Adv) minor ones (artc, prep, conj) words of one lexico-grammatical class have the same paradigm

Lexical Meaning is the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions EX. Go – goes — went lexical meaning – process of movement

PRACTICE Group the words into 3 column according to the grammatical, lexical or part-of –speech meaning • • Boy’s, nearest, at, beautiful, think, man, drift, wrote, tremendous, ship’s, the most beautiful, table, near, for, went, friend’s, handsome, thinking, boy, nearer, thought, boys, lamp, go, during.

• Grammatical 1. The case of nouns: boy’s, ship’s, friend’s 2. The degree of comparison of adj: nearest, the most beautiful 3. The tense of verbs: wrote, went, thought • Lexical 1. Think, thinking, thought 2. Went, go 3. Boy’s, boys 4. Nearest, nearer 5. At, for, during (“time”) 6. Beautiful, the most beautiful • Part-of-speech Nouns—verbs—adj—-prep

Aspects of Lexical meaning The denotational aspect The connotational aspect The pragmatic aspect

Denotational Meaning “denote” – to be a sign of, stand as a symbol for” establishes the correlation between the name and the object makes communication possible EX booklet “a small thin book that gives info about smth”

PRACTICE Explain denotational meaning • • A lion-hunter To have a heart like a lion To feel like a lion To roar like a lion To be thrown to the lions The lion’s share To put your head in lion’s mouth

PRACTICE • A lion-hunter A host that seeks out celebrities to impress guests • To have a heart like a lion To have great courage • To feel like a lion To be in the best of health • To roar like a lion To shout very loudly • To be thrown to the lions To be criticized strongly or treated badly • The lion’s share Much more than one’s share • To put your head in lion’s mouth

Connotational Meaning reflects the attitude of the speaker towards what he speaks about it is optional – a word either has it or not Connotation gives additional information and includes: The emotive charge EX Daddy (for father) Intensity EX to adore (for to love) Imagery EX to wade through a book “ to walk with an effort”

PRACTICE Give possible interpretation of the sentences • She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang. • Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking! • He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man. • The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve. • He was longing to begin to be generous. • She was a woman with shiny red hands and workswollen finger knuckles.

PRACTICE Give possible interpretation of the sentences • She failed to buy it and felt a strange pang. (pain—dissatisfaction that makes her suffer) • Don’t be afraid of that woman! It’s just barking! (make loud sharp sound—-the behavior that implies that the person is frightened) • He got up from his chair moving slowly, like an old man. (to go at slow speed—was suffering or was ill) • The girl went to her father and pulled his sleeve. (to move smth towards oneself— to try to attract smb’s attention) • He was longing to begin to be generous. (to start doing— hadn’t been generous before) • She was a woman with shiny red hands and work-swollen finger knuckles. (colour— a labourer involved into physical work , constant contact with water)

The pragmatic aspect of lexical meaning the situation in which the word is uttered, the social circumstances (formal, informal, etc. ), social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough, etc. ), the type and purpose of communication (poetic, official, etc. ) EX horse (neutral) steed (poetic) nag (slang) gee-gee (baby language)

PRACTICE State what image underline the meaning • I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind. • You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. • They seized on the idea. • Bill, chasing some skirt again? • I saw him dive into a small pub. • Why are you trying to pin the blame on me? • He only married her for her dough.

PRACTICE State what image underline the meaning • I heard what she said but it didn’t sink into my mind. • (to understand completely) • You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. (to behave humbly in order to win favour) • They seized on the idea. (to be eager to take and use) • Bill, chasing some skirt again? (a girl) • I saw him dive into a small pub. (to enter suddenly) • Why are you trying to pin the blame on me? (to blame smb unfairly) • He only married her for her dough. (money)

Types of Morpheme Meaning lexical differential functional distributional

Lexical Meaning in Morphemes root-morphemes that are homonymous to words possess lexical meaning EX. boy – boyhood – boyish affixes have lexical meaning of a more generalized character EX. –er “agent, doer of an action”

Lexical Meaning in Morphemes has denotational and connotational components EX. –ly, -like, -ish – denotational meaning of similiarity womanly , womanish connotational component – -ly (positive evaluation), -ish (deragotary) женственный женоподобный

Differential Meaning a semantic component that serves to distinguish one word from all others containing identical morphemes EX. cranberry, blackberry, gooseberry

Functional Meaning found only in derivational affixes a semantic component which serves to refer the word to the certain part of speech EX. just, adj. – justice, n.

Distributional Meaning the meaning of the order and the arrangement of morphemes making up the word found in words containing more than one morpheme different arrangement of the same morphemes would make the word meaningless EX. sing- + -er =singer, -er + sing- = ?

Motivation denotes the relationship between the phonetic or morphemic composition and structural pattern of the word on the one hand, and its meaning on the other can be phonetical morphological semantic

Phonetical Motivation when there is a certain similarity between the sounds that make up the word and those produced by animals, objects, etc. EX. sizzle, boom, splash, cuckoo

Morphological Motivation when there is a direct connection between the structure of a word and its meaning EX. finger-ring – ring-finger, A direct connection between the lexical meaning of the component morphemes EX think –rethink “thinking again”

Semantic Motivation based on co-existence of direct and figurative meanings of the same word EX a watchdog – ”a dog kept for watching property” a watchdog – “a watchful human guardian” (semantic motivation)

• PRACTICE

Analyze the meaning of the words. Define the type of motivation a) morphologically motivated b) semantically motivated • Driver • Leg • Horse • Wall • Hand-made • Careless • piggish

Analyze the meaning of the words. Define the type of motivation a) morphologically motivated b) semantically motivated • Driver Someone who drives a vehicle morphologically motivated • Leg The part of a piece of furniture such as a table semantically motivated • Horse A piece of equipment shaped like a box, used in gymnastics semantically motivated

• Wall Emotions or behavior preventing people from feeling close semantically motivated • Hand-made Made by hand, not machine morphologically motivated • Careless Not taking enough care morphologically motivated • Piggish Selfish semantically motivated

what she said but it didn’t sink in my mind “do down to the bottom” ‘to be accepted by mind” semantic motivation I heard Why are you trying to pin the blame on me? “fasten smth somewhere using a pin” – ”to blame smb” semantic motivation I was following the man when he dived into a pub. “jump into deep water” – ”to enter into suddenly” semantic motivation You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that “to move along on hands and knees close to the ground” – “to behave very humbly in order to win favor” semantic motivation

With new words being added to the dictionary on an annual basis, the English language is always evolving. And in addition to the new words that are added every year, there are also new definitions that get tacked on to previous entries based on the way word usage changes. For instance, while the word bully today describes someone with a mean spirit, it actually used to mean something much sweeter. And while you can use the word girl to clearly describe a young female these days, that wasn’t always the case. To update your language knowledge, we’ve rounded up the everyday words that once meant something else. And for more tidbits about the English language, check out the 20 Words You Won’t Believe Are in the Dictionary Now.

Nowadays, if you say something is awful, you’re not being kind. However, in the past, it was actually a term that people used to praise things, seeing as it literally meant that someone or something was «worthy of awe.» As awful became more negative, the word awesome largely replaced it in terms of its original meaning.

Centuries ago, the term cheater was used to describe the royal officers who looked after the king’s escheats, or the land he acquired when someone died without a legal heir. However, because of the shady ways these officers went about their jobs, the word «cheater» eventually became synonymous with someone who lies, tricks, and defrauds—and this is how we define the word today. And for more terms that have changed, check out the 60 Words People Pronounce Differently Across America.

In the 1300s, people who were naughty had naught, or «nothing.» In other words, they were poor. But nowadays, the word is used to describe someone not as poor, but as evil or improper.

The original meaning of nice used to be, well, not so nice. The adjective actually comes from the Latin word «nescius,» meaning «unaware» or «ignorant.» When it was picked up by the English language in the early 1300s, it described a «stupid, ignorant, or foolish» person. Ouch!

Flirting with someone in today’s sense is what most people would consider to be flattering. If you were to flirt with someone based on the word’s original meaning, then what you’d be doing is less sweet and more savage. In the 1500s, this term was actually used to describe a quick motion or jerk—something like a flick. And for more word facts, check out 5 Words to Ditch From Your Vocabulary ASAP, Experts Say.

When someone describes something as egregious, they are trying to say that it stands out—and not in a good way. But when it was first coined, the word actually meant the exact opposite. According to Merriam-Webster, the adjective was once used as a compliment to describe someone «who had a remarkably good quality that placed him or her eminently above others.»

No one wants to be called a bully—unless you’re using its original meaning, that is. In the archaic sense, bully means «sweetheart,» as it was derived from the Dutch word for lover.

The word silly has seen quite a few definitions throughout history. Derived from Old English, the adjective has been used over the years to mean everything from «happy» and «fortunate» to «innocent.» Eventually, though, the word somehow became synonymous with ignorance, thus bringing us to its current meaning of «foolish.» And for more silly words, check out The 30 Funniest Words in the English Language—And How to Use Them.

When something today is described as artificial, it’s usually a far cry from what’s considered to be a masterful creation. However, that’s exactly what the adjective used to refer to. If something was artificial back in the day, it was artfully or skillfully constructed.

Being called brave is quite the praise by today’s standards. But the word’s original definition—which is «showy» or «gaudy»—is much less complimentary. And for more etymology lessons, check out 50 Words You Hear Every Day But Don’t Know What They Mean.

There are a lot of things that can make someone nervous nowadays: job interviews, talking to someone they’re attracted to, public speaking… the list goes on and on. In the 1600s, however, nervous in this context wouldn’t make sense, seeing as it was originally used to described someone who possessed great strength.

Fantastic is an adjective used to describe something that is extraordinarily good. But seeing as it was derived from the Latin word phantasticus—meaning «imaginary»—this word was originally used to describe something that only exists in the imagination. So, technically, a unicorn would be fantastic in either sense of the word!

A young female is typically referred to as a girl today. When the word was first used in the Middle Ages, however, it referred to any young person, regardless of their gender.

Guy, man, dude, fellow—they’re all monikers used to refer to the male species. But you wouldn’t want to just throw the word guy around a few centuries ago; in the 1800s, it was used to describe a person of grotesque appearance.

If someone were to give you a clue today, they would be giving you a hint about something. But when the word was first coined, someone who was giving out clues was actually giving out something more tangible: balls of yarn.

Today, fathom is just another word for «understand.» But way back when, it was used for measurement purposes and described the length of someone’s outstretched arms (about six feet!). Can you fathom that?

Manufactured, when used in its original sense, describes something that has been produced by hand. On the contrary, today people generally describe something as manufactured when it has been mass-produced in a factory by machinery.

If you’re a stylish, neatly groomed man, someone today might call you a Dapper Dan. However, if you were to use the word according to its original meaning, then this wouldn’t make sense. Seeing as it’s derived from the German word tapfer for «brave,» dapper was originally used to describe someone as bold and daring—not in their fashion choices, but in their endeavors and undertakings.

If you’re a passenger, you’re just someone who’s along for the ride. But the original meaning of the word passenger is someone who is traveling, fleeting, or just passing by, typically by foot.

The term pretty is derived from various words in other languages that meant «cunning,» «tricky,» and «skillful»—and therefore, it makes sense that the adjective was originally used to describe a sly person. But nowadays, it’s used to positively describe someone’s appearance rather than their deceitfulness.

Radical is an adjective used to describe anything extreme that shakes up the fundamental nature of something, and it’s typically employed in regards to social or political activism. However, the word actually comes from the Latin word for «rooted,» and it was once used to describe the opposite of extreme: something rooted, basic, and fundamental.

It’s no fun being sad or unhappy. But it wouldn’t have been such a bad thing a long time ago. In Old English, to be sad meant to be satisfied or content, usually in regards to feeling full from a meal.

It’s a good thing to have success nowadays. But in earlier times, it could go either way, seeing as success originally described both positive and negative outcomes alike.

You know a villain as any evil person, typically in a movie, novel, or play. But in Old English, this word simply referred to anybody who worked on a country estate, such as a farm laborer.

The original meaning of the word terrible is similar to its definition today, only way more extreme. When you described something as terrible back in the day, it meant that it caused genuine fits of terror; today, people use it to describe anything that’s mildly bad—even a terrible movie. And for more words you should probably stop using, Cut These 20 Negative Words from Your Life and Be Instantly Happier.

In the children’s book series, Amelia Bedelia, Amelia is often asked to complete tasks in which she takes the instructions literally. For example, she’s asked to dress the chicken. What does she do? Amelia literally puts a little green pair of shorts and a pink top on the chicken. 

Was that what her instructions meant? Of course not! She was supposed to prepare the chicken for cooking. But that’s just it:  The English language is complex because sometimes the same word can be used in a different context and have a whole new meaning. This is what’s referred to as a homonym or homophone. Let’s dive into the most frequently used English words that have double or multiple meanings.

• What are homonyms?
• What are homophones?

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Most frequently used English words with multiple meanings 

It’s vital to understand and recognize homophones and homonyms when in conversation with someone because you wouldn’t want to mistakenly dress a chicken up in clothing, would you?

Exactly!

Let’s first analyze homonyms. 

What are Homonyms?

Homonyms are words that are spelled the same and sound the same but mean something different. We’ve compiled a list of common homonyms below.

1. Jam 

When used as a noun, jam means the sweet Smucker strawberry jelly you smudge on your PB&J sandwich. 

The verb jam could also have numerous meanings. For one, it could be used to refer to playing music. Here’s an example, “I got my drums and he’s got his guitar… it’s time to jam”. 

2. Pool

Pool can mean the body of water in a backyard that’s used to swim in. 

For example: “After a long day at work, I relaxed in my pool.”

The other version is the game of billiards or using a stick to push a ball into a specific corner of the playing table. When you play pool, you’re competing against another person to get as many of your color balls into the hole first as possible. 

3. Season

The smell of freshly cut grass and distant giggles of kids splashing about in their pool are all sounds of summer. Summer is a season just like winter, fall and spring. Because the Sun and Earth are constantly moving, the sun shines differently across different areas on Earth. This creates different temperatures during the time periods we call seasons. 

But “season” is a word with a double meaning: Indeed, you can season your food with salt and pepper to give it a bit of spice and pizazz! 

4. Read

This word is special because it means the same thing in context but the way you say it indicates either past tense or present. The present tense version of “read” means to utter aloud, as in “I am going to read you this story right now”. 

The other option, “read”, is pronounced like the color red. It means to have already studied or read aloud. 

5. Letter

A letter can be a written note typically delivered via email or the symbols we use to make up words. To illustrate, “I wrote a letter to my brother while he was away at war”.

6. Nail

A nail is a protective layer of hard skin on your fingers and on most other mammals such as gorillas or cats. Some prefer to paint their nails to give them some spunk!  

On the other hand, a nail could be a piece of metal used to keep two objects together. Nails are used to secure paintings to the wall or piece together bits of furniture. 

7. Bat

A bat is a nocturnal bird-like animal, while the other type of bat is a wooden object used to hit a baseball.

8. Fly

In the sentence, “I will fly a plane someday” the word “fly” is used as a verb. Whereas, if I say “That tiny buzzing fly landed on my fresh food while I was eating”, I’m using the word fly as a noun. 

These are only some of the most frequently used homonyms out of many.

What are homophones?

Homophones are words that are spelled differently and have different meanings but sound the same. Below are some of the most common ones:

1. One vs won

You might have one single pet or you may have won your last basketball game. One is a single unit of something and won is a victory.

2. Aloud vs allowed

Do you have kids? If so, let’s say you’ve put this rule into place: you aren’t allowed to eat chocolate ice cream before bed. The word allowed in this sentence means not permitted. 

In contrast, the word aloud means to be audible. For instance, “the teacher assigned Juliet to read chapter 8 of Charlotte’s Web aloud”. 

3. Affect vs effect

Affect means to make a difference. Effect on the other hand is a result. These words go hand in hand because to be affected means to have an effect. Let me clarify with an example. 

Amanda wondered if Crest White Strips would affect her teeth.

Crest White Strips had the promised effect on Amanda’s teeth. 

4. Here vs hear

Can you guess the difference between the meaning given these two sentences?

• Can you come over here and help me fix this sink?
• I can’t hear what you said because I’m too far away.

In the first sentence, “here” suggests a location, and the person who needs help is in a different place than the person they need help from. 

You’ll notice in the second statement, “hear” suggests he or she cannot perceive what is being said because of the distance. 

5. Buy vs by vs bye

Did you just sing the “Bye Bye Bye” NSYNC song in your head? Yeah, me too. The “bye” used in that song implies a farewell greeting and is short for goodbye. Use the word “buy” when you need to purchase something and the word “by” to refer to a location. Let me further explain with a couple of sample sentences:

• I got back on the plane and said bye to my boyfriend after a lovely trip together.
• I had to buy some fresh oranges from the store.
• Can you get her purse? It’s right by the door. 

6. Your vs you’re

“You’re” is a contraction of the words “you are”. A contraction is a select group of words that are shortened and replaced with an apostrophe. A good way to see if you should use your or you’re is to revert to “you are” instead of “you’re” and see if it makes sense in the sentence. 

For example, which sentence sounds correct:

• Is that your coat over there?
• Is that you are (you’re) coat over there?

The first one, right!? The one your in the first sentence symbolizes belonging. What belonged to the person? The coat belonged to the person. 

7. Ate vs eight

I ate pizza for dinner. Here, the word ate means to consume and is the past tense version of eat. The other version, eight, is the number after seven and before nine. 

8. Eye vs I

An eye is the body part you use to see the world, while “I” is a pronoun that’s used when you’re talking about yourself. Here are some examples:

• I was running late for my date because there was a traffic jam.
• I saw the magic trick with my very own eyes.

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