Word sound similar but different meaning

This word set can be confusing, even for word geeks. Let’s start with the basics. A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as another word but has a different sound and a different meaning:

lead (to go in front of)/lead (a metal)

wind (to follow a course that is not straight)/wind (a gust of air)

bass (low, deep sound)/bass (a type of fish)

A homophone is a word that has the same sound as another word but has a different meaning. Homophones may or may not have the same spelling. Here are some examples:

to/two/too

there/their/they’re

pray/prey

Not so bad, right? The ending –graph means drawn or written, so a homograph has the same spelling. The –phone ending means sound or voice, so a homophone has the same pronunciation. But here’s where it gets tricky. Depending on whom you talk to, homonym means either:

A word that is spelled like another but has a different sound and meaning (homograph); a word that sounds like another but has a different spelling and meaning (homophone)

OR

A word that is spelled and pronounced like another but has a different meaning (homograph and homophone)

So does a homonym have to be both a homograph and a homophone, or can it be just one or the other? As with most things in life, it depends on whom you ask.

In the strictest sense, a homonym must be both a homograph and a homophone. So say many dictionaries. However, other dictionaries allow that a homonym can be a homograph or a homophone.

With so many notable resources pointing to the contrary, are we losing this strict meaning? What then will we call a word that is spelled and pronounced the same as another but has a different meaning? If homonym retains all these meanings, how will readers know what is actually meant?

The careful writer would do well to follow the strict sense, ensuring his meaning is understood immediately.

What are Homophones?

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and different spellings.

The term homo has been derived from a Greek word which means same and phone which means voice.

Example:

Week                                                        Weak

                          

There are seven days in a week.               The man is very weak.

In the above mentioned examples both week/weak are pronounced the same, but week in the first sentence means a period of seven days whereas weak in the second sentence means not strong.

Uses of Homophones

Homophones are often used to create paronomasia in word plays and games. In order to deceive the players, paronomasias are created. Paronomasia is also very commonly used in poetries. Better known as puns, it is used to create humor in jokes and comedy shows. In a word play, puns are used to suggest multiple meanings of words that sound the same. When word pairs that sound alike (but not identical) are used, it becomes a homophonic pun.

Example:

The phrase used by George Carlin can be cited as an example.

Atheism is a non prophet institution. Here prophet has been used instead of its homophone profit.

Examples of Homophones

Example:

Some examples of commonly used homophones are as follows:

Sea                                                           See

                                        

The sea is blue in colour.                         We see with our eyes.

Example:

Wait                                                        Weight

                                                       

Please wait for me!                             What is your weight?

Example:

Aloud                                                     Allowed    

                                 

They are singing aloud.               Dogs are not allowed in children’s play area.

Example:

Flour                                                         Flower

                                                                

What is the price of 1kg of flour?            The flower is red in colour.

Example:

Meat                                                      Meet
                           

Karan likes to eat meat.                        Nice to meet you!

Homophones and Contractions

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Shortened versions of words or groups of words are known as contractions. The missing letter in a contracted word is usually marked by a apostrophe. Some common contractions and homophones are mentioned below:

Contractions	Homophones
You’re	Your
There’s	Theirs
Here’s	Hears
Who’s	Whose

Difference Between Homophones and Homonyms

Homophones are words that are pronounced similarly but they differ in spelling and meaning. Homonyms are words that sound and spelt the same but differ in meaning. Homonyms can again be divided into three categories. They are homophone (same pronunciation but different spelling/meaning), homograph (same pronunciation and same spelling), Heteronym (same spelling but different pronunciation)

Example:

Homophone: Steel (various forms of metals), steal (to take someone’s property without permission)

Homonym: rock (a large mass of stone), rock (a kind of music)

Difference between Homophones and Homograph

Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meaning and spelling whereas words that are spelt/pronounced the same but have different meaning are called homographs.

Example:

Homophone: pear (a kind of fruit), pair (two identical things)

Homograph:  fair (reasonable), fair (complexion)

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Reference Links:

•   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone
•   http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/homophones.htm
•   http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/sats/homophones.htm
•   http://www.magickeys.com/books/riddles/words.html
•   http://www.dailywritingtips.com/homonyms-homophones-homographs-and-heteronyms/

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meaning and spellings. You can download and learn homophones with our A-Z List PDF. In English there are many words in that category. You should learn how to use them, most importantly understand them correctly. English words that sound same can be hard for second comers. With some English practice and using those words in context will help you greatly.

I recommend getting some help from dictionaries and using visual cards can help you a lot. You can find some most common English words that look and sound similar with example sentences. Practice  can help you to tell the difference between them easily.

1. Difference between Bear-Bare

Bear is a verb. Meaning: to hold up; support; carry
-to bear the weight of the roof.

Bare is an adjective. Meaning:(of a person or part of the body) not clothed or covered.
-bare walls, bare walls

2. Difference between Break-Brake

Break is a verb. Meaning: to smash, split, or divide into parts violently; reduce to pieces or fragments
-He broke a vase.
-She broke her promise.

Brake is a noun. Meaning: anything that has a slowing or stopping effect.
-You should brake your car when you see someone on the road.

3. Difference between Coarse-Course

Coarse is a adjective. Meaning: composed of relatively large parts or particles.
-The beach had rough, coarse sand.

Course is a noun. Meaning: Course: a series of classes you take to learn about a certain subject.
-English course

4. Difference between Desert-Dessert

Desert is a noun. Meaning: a hot, dry land with little rain and few plants or people.
-The Sahara is a vast sandy desert.

Dessert is also a noun. Meaning: cake, pie, fruit, pudding, ice cream, etc., served as the final course of a meal.
-Maybe we should have vanilla ice cream for dessert.

5. Difference between Race-Raise

Race is noun. Meaning: a contest of speed, as in running, riding, driving, or sailing.
-They spent a day at the races.

Raise is a verb. Meaning: to move to a higher position; lift up; elevate.
-Raise your head

6. Difference between Price-Prize

Price is a noun. Meaning: the sum or amount of money or its equivalent for which anything is bought, sold, or offered for sale.
-Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Prize is noun. Meaning: a reward for victory or superiority, as in a contest or competition.
-her invention won first prize in a national contest

7. Difference between Plain-Plane

Plain is an adjective. Meaning: not decorated or elaborate; simple or basic in character.
-good plain food

Plane is a noun. Meaning: a vehicle designed for air travel.
-flying with a plane

8. Difference between Lose-Loose

Lose is a verb. Mostly used with a object. Meaning: suffer a loss or fail to keep something in your possession
-I lose my hat everyday.
-I am losing my mind

Loose is an adjective. Meaning: free or released from fastening or attachment.
-a loose end.

Homophones A-Z List PDF

 
Homophones-A-Z List PDF – download

Identical words are quite complex. They almost look alike but they differ in their meanings and contexts. We can also say that some English words have twins. When you learn English vocabulary, you come across different words that are identical, but in reality, they are very different from one another.

Synonyms are words that have very similar meanings but slightly different functions or applications. Instead of simply saying the pasta you had last night was delicious, you could spice things up by using synonyms like tasty, yummy, or even mouthwatering.

In addition to synonyms, there are words with the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings (homonyms), words that sound the same but are spelled and used differently (homophones), and words with the same spelling but different pronunciations and meanings (homographs).

All these similar words in English are quite confusing and sometimes frustrating as well. We will explore some tips to distinguish these similar words.

1. Use a dictionary regularly

The dictionary is your best language-learning guide. If you are not sure what a word means, look it up in an English-language dictionary.

Keep in mind that a single word can have numerous meanings and applications. A good dictionary or dictionary app will list them all, with context examples. A thesaurus (which lists synonyms for any word) can also aid in the identification of words with similar meanings.

2. Create your own clues about the word

Similar English words can be very complicated, but you can create special cues and images to help you to remember which one is which.

Make an image of something familiar (a person, a thing, or an event) and connect it to the word. When you see the word again, that clue will automatically come to mind, and you will easily remember the difference.

3. Use flashcards to make notes

There are numerous ways to use flashcards as learning tools. Use the flashcard to test yourself by writing the word on one side and its meaning on the other. Flashcards are portable, enabling you to review them when you have free time. Even better, you can create and study with flashcards online.

4. Focus on learning words based on their context

If you only try to remember English words and their definitions, you will quickly become confused. There are several words that are used interchangeably. For example, the words ‘rob’ and ‘steal’ are used interchangeably but their definitions may vary in the dictionary.

The definitions of ‘rob’ and ‘steal’ in the dictionary are:

Rob: “to take personal property from someone by violence or danger”

Steal: “to take the property of another illegally”

Now the two definitions look identical but they vary in their context. To understand the contextual difference, you would need to hear native speakers in real situations. You can also learn the contextual use of English words with italki. Enroll yourself to learn English online with the best and most professional online English tutors who will improve your understanding of similar words in English.

The instructors will help you generate your notes for English vocabulary, parts of speech, conjunction, prepositions, and homophones in English with relevant examples and exercises.

Words having similar spellings but different meanings

Coarse/Course

Coarse: (adjective) a rough, not smooth texture.

Example: Is the upper you are wearing smooth or coarse in texture?

Course: (noun) a series of classes taken to learn about a specific subject.

Example: Are you taking any courses to improve your writing skills?

Race/Raise

Race: (verb) compete in a speed contest, such as running or cycling.

Example: My kids enjoy racing each other in school.

Raise: (verb) lift up something like your hand.

Example: If you want chocolate, raise your hand.

Desert/Dessert

Desert: (noun) a hot, dry land with few plants and people (for example, the Sahara)

Example: If you plan to visit the Sahara desert, how much water would you require?

Dessert: (noun) a sweet dish served at the end of a meal (for example, cake)

Example: Maybe we should have dessert at the end of the meal.

Bear/Bare

Bear: (verb) produce outcomes or fruit

Example: This tree will bear fruits this summer.

Bare: (verb) expose or display

Example: When we opened the gate, John’s dog ran up and started to bare its teeth at us.

Break/Brake

Break: (verb) divide something into pieces or cause it to stop working, usually after dropping or misusing it.

Example: Please do not break this expensive glass.

Brake: (verb) slow down or come to an end

Example: You should press the brake of your car at the signal.

Price/Prize

Price: (noun) the amount of money you pay for something.

Example: I did not buy the dress because its price was very high.

Prize: (noun) something offered to conquerors of a competition or contest.

Example: If you want to get first prize, you must work hard.

Lose/Loose

Lose: (verb) suffer a loss or fail to keep something in your ownership.

Example: Please do not lose these papers or you won’t be able to host the meeting.

Loose: (adjective) not tightly or properly fixed.

Example: She is very thin, and this jacket is loose for her.

Plain/Plane/Plan

Plain: (adjective) average, not decorated

Example: This top is too plain. I am not wearing it.

Plane: (noun) short form of airplane

Example: I am traveling to the USA by plane.

Plan: (noun) a thorough program of action.

Example: My plan is to travel to all the nearby places in a month.

Words in English with Similar Meanings

Rob/Steal

Rob: (verb) take something away from someone forcefully.

Example: someone tried to rob John this afternoon.

Steal: (verb) take something away illegally or without consent.

Example: if I leave my bag in the park, someone will definitely steal it.

Cut/Chop

Cut: (verb) divide something into pieces with a knife or any sharp tool.

Example: Please cut the onion into small pieces.

Chop: (verb) cut into many small pieces with recurrent strokes of a knife.

Example: You must chop the garlic before putting it into the pan.

Lend/Borrow

Lend: (verb) give someone short-term use of something in exchange for it being returned later.

Example: Do not worry if you don’t have money, I can lend you some.

Borrow: (verb) accept or demand temporary use of something in exchange for its return later.

Example: I have a Mathematics test tomorrow, can I borrow your calculator?

Hear/Listen

Hear: (verb) become conscious of a sound.

Example: Did you hear the phone ring?

Listen: (verb) pay attention or be aware of a sound.

Example: I like to listen to music when I am sad.

Ice/Snow

Ice: (noun) frozen water

Example: It is so cold that the car is covered with a layer of ice.

Snow: (noun) tiny white frozen droplets of water that fall from the sky.

Example: Snow is expected tonight.

Amount/Number

Amount: (noun) the total number or quantity, used for innumerable things.

Example: you must use this amount of baking powder in the cake.

Number: (noun) the total quantity of units, used for countable things.

Example: The number of passes sold this month is twice the previous month’s passes.

See/Watch/Look

See: (verb) identify by eye or sight

Example: Did you see him taking the book from the shelf?

Watch: (verb) observe responsively.

Example: we are all set to watch a cricket match tonight.

Look: (verb) cast your eye on

Example:  Please look at this object before you start sketching.

So, these were some words that look similar and can be very confusing. We hope that the differences are clear to you now. Sometimes, we get confused while using similar words. Such as, a majority of people get confused about whether to use to or too. It requires deep observation and plenty of practice to get a command of these words.

Conclusion

If you are learning English, you must make flashcards for yourself. Practice them on daily basis in your conversations with friends and family. You can also read English books and watch English movies or web series to understand the difference between similar words in English.

Most importantly, keenly observe native speakers while they utter such words. It will help you understand the use of different words based on their context.

Wednesday, Jul 6, 2022, 5:55 pm

2.Meter vs. Metre

3.Isle vs. Aisle

Homonymy in modern English

                                                                                     
Автор: учитель английского языка

                                                  
                                   Ермилова Елена Александровна

Introduction

Homonyms
are the words different in meaning, but similar in sound.

Homonyms
are used in stilistics as members of stylistic figures called puns.

The
meaning of homonymy is very actual in our days. The appearance of new,
homonymic meanings is one of the main trends in development of Modern English,
especially in its colloquial layer, which, in its turn at high degree is supported
by development of modern informational technologies and simplification of alive
speech.

The
abundance of homonyms is also closely connected with such a characteristic
feature of the English language as the phonetic identity of word and stem or, in
other words, the predominance of free forms among the most frequent roots. It
is quite obvious that if the frequency of words stands in some inverse
relationship to their length, the monosyllabic words will be the most frequent.
Moreover, as the most frequent words are also highly polysemantic, it is only
natural that they develop meanings, which in the coarse of time may deviate
very far from the central one.

    In
general, homonymy is intentionally sought to provoke positive, negative or
awkward connotations. Concerning the selection of initials, homonymy with
shortened words serves the purpose of manipulation.  The demotivated process of
a shortened word hereby leads to re-motivation.  The form is homonymously
identical with an already lexicalized linguistic unit, which makes it easier to
pronounce or recall, thus standing out from the majority of acronyms.  This
homonymous unit has a secondary semantic relation to the linguistic unit.

    Homonymy of names functions as personified metaphor with the result
that the homonymous name leads to abstraction.  The resultant new word
coincides in its phonological realization with an existing word in English.
However, there is no logical connection between the meaning of the acronym and
the meaning of the already existing word, which explains a great part of the
humor it produces.

    In the coarse of time the number of homonyms on the whole increases,
although occasionally the conflict of homonyms ends in word loss.

The Object is – lexical
figures.

The Subject is – homonymy
in modern English.

The aim is —to
study homonymy in modern English.

The tasks of the work:

1) to give the determination to homonymy

2) to examine the classification  of  homonyms

3) to examine distinguishing homonymy and polysemy

4) to learn the literature on the subject

This work consists of:  introduction,  two chapters   and  bibliography.

Chapter Ι Homonymy as learning of homonyms

1. Determination of homonymy

     Two or more words identical in sound
and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and in many cases origin
are called homonyms. The term is derived from Greek “homonymous”
(homos – “the same” and onoma – “name”) and thus expresses very well the
sameness of name combined with the difference in meaning.

Modern
English is exceptionally rich in homonymous words and word-forms. It is held
that languages where short words abound have more homonyms than those where
longer words are prevalent. Therefore it is sometimes suggested that abundance
of homonyms in Modern English is to be accounted for by the monosyllabic
structure of the commonly used English words.

Not
only words but other linguistic units may be homonymous. Here, however, we are
concerned with the homonymy of words and word-forms only, so we shall not touch
upon the problem of homonymous affixes or homonymous phrases When analyzing
different cases of homonymy we find that some words are homonymous in all their
forms, i.e. we observe full homonymy of the paradigms of two or more different
words as, e.g., in seal a sea animal and seal—a design printed on paper by
means of a stamp’.[3,p144] The paradigm «seal, seal’s, seals, seals'»
is identical for both of them and gives no indication of whether it is seal (1)
or seal (2) that we are analyzing. In other cases, e.g. seal—a sea animal’ and
(to) seal (3)—’to close tightly, we see that although some individual
word-forms are homonymous, the whole of the paradigm is not identical. Compare,
for instance, the-paradigms:

1.
(to)seal-seal-seal’s-seals-seals’

2.
seal-seals-sealed-sealing, etc.

1
Professor O. Jespersen calculated that there are roughly four times as many
monosyllabic as polysyllabic homonyms. It is easily observed that only some of
the word-forms (e.g. seal, seals, etc.) are homonymous, whereas others (e.g.
sealed, sealing) are not. In such cases we cannot speak of homonymous words but
only of homonymy of individual word-forms or of partial homonymy. This is true
of a number of other cases, e.g. compare find [faind], found [faund], found
[faund] and found [faund], founded [‘faundidj, founded [faundid]; know [nou],
knows [nouz], knew [nju:], and no [nou]; nose [nouz], noses [nouziz]; new
[nju:] in which partial homonymy is observed.

                                            Homonyms proper

   
Homonyms proper are words, as I have already mentioned, identical in
pronunciation and spelling, like fast and liver above. Other
examples are: back n ‘part of the body’ – back adv ‘away from the
front’ – back v ‘go back’; ball n ‘a gathering of people for
dancing’ – ball n ‘round object used in games’; bark n ‘the noise
made by dog’ – bark v ‘to utter sharp explosive cries’ – bark n
‘the skin of a tree’ – bark n

‘a
sailing ship’; base n ‘bottom’ – base v ‘build or place upon’ – base
a ‘mean’; bay n ‘part of the sea or lake filling wide-mouth opening of
land’ – bay n ‘recess in a house or room’ – bay v ‘bark’ – bay
n ‘the European laurel’.

    The
important point is that homonyms are distinct words: not different meanings
within one word.

Homophones

   
Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning:

air –
hair; arms – alms; buy – by; him – hymn; knight – night; not – knot; or – oar;
piece – peace; rain – reign; scent – cent; steel – steal; storey – story; write
– right and many others.

    In
the sentence The play-wright on my right thinks it right that some
conventional rite should symbolize the right of every man to write as he
pleases the sound complex [rait] is a noun, an adjective, an adverb and a
verb, has four different spellings and six different meanings. The difference
may be confined to the use of a capital letter as in bill and Bill, in the
following example:

“How
much is my milk bill?”

“Excuse
me, Madam, but my name is John.”

    On
the other hand, whole sentences may be homophonic: The sons raise meat – The
sun’s rays meet. To understand these one needs a wider context. If you hear
the second in the course of a lecture in optics, you will understand it without
thinking of the possibility of the first.

Homographs

   
Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally
identical in spelling: bow [bou] – bow [bau]; lead [li:d] – lead [led]; row
[rou] – row [rau]; sewer [‘soue] – sewer [sjue]; tear [tie] – tear [tee]; wind [wind] – wind [waind] and many
more.

    It
has been often argued that homographs constitute a phenomenon that should be
kept apart from homonymy, as the object of linguistics is sound language. This
viewpoint can hardly be accepted. Because of the effects of education and
culture written English is a generalized national form of expression. An
average speaker does not separate the written and oral form. On the contrary he
is more likely to analyze the words in terms of letters than in terms of
phonemes with which he is less familiar. That is why a linguist must take into
consideration both the spelling and the pronunciation of words when analyzing
cases of identity of form and diversity of content. [10, p12]

Modern
English has a very extensive vocabulary; the number of words according to the
dictionary data is no less than 400, 000.A question naturally arises whether
this enormous word-stock is composed of separate independent lexical units, or
may it perhaps be regarded as a certain structured system made up of numerous
interdependent and interrelated sub-systems or groups of words. This problem
may be viewed in terms of the possible ways of classifying vocabulary items.
Words can be classified in various ways. Here, however, we are concerned only
with the semantic classification of words which gives us a better insight into
some aspects of the Modern English word-stock. Attempts to study the inner
structure of the vocabulary revealed that in spite of its heterogeneity the
English word-stock may be analyzed into numerous sub-systems the members of
which have some features in common, thus distinguishing them from the members
of other lexical sub-systems. Classification into monosynaptic and polysemantic
words is based on the number of meanings the word possesses. More detailed
semantic classifications are generally based on the semantic similarity (or
polarity) of words or their component morphemes. Below we give a brief survey
of some of these lexical groups of current use both in theoretical
investigation and practical class-room teaching.

   
Accordingly, Professor A.I. Smirnitsky classifieds homonyms into two large
classes:

a)    
full homonyms

b)   
partial homonyms

Full
homonyms

    Full
lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of
speech and have the same paradigm.

Match
n – a game, a contest

Match
n – a short piece of wood used for producing fire

Wren
n – a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service

Wren
n – a bird

Partial
homonyms

      
Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

A.
Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the same
category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have only one identical form, but
it is never the same form, as will be soon from the examples:

(to)
found v

      
found v (past indef., past part. of to find)

(to)
lay v

      
lay v (past indef. of to lie)

(to)
bound v

      
bound v (past indef., past part. of to bind)

B.
Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories
of parts of speech, which have identical form in their paradigms.

Rose
n

Rose
v (past indef. of to rise)

Maid
n

Made
v (past indef., past part. of to make)

Left
adj

Left
v (past indef., past part. of to leave)

Bean
n

Been
v (past part. of to be)

One
num

Won v
(past indef., past part. of to win)

C.
Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech
which are identical only in their corresponding forms.

to
lie (lay, lain) v

to
lie (lied, lied) v

to
hang (hung, hung) v

to
hang (hanged, hanged) v

to
can (canned, canned)

(I)              
can (could)

Chapter
ΙΙ  Problems of Homonymy

1.      Polysemy and homonymy: etymological
and semantic criteria

Words
borrowed from other languages may through phonetic convergence become
homonymous. Old Norse has and French race are homonymous in Modern English (cf.
race1 [reis]—’running’ and race [reis] ‘a distinct ethnical stock’). There are
four homonymic words in Modern English: sound —’healthy’ was already in Old
English homonymous with sound—’a narrow passage of water’, though
etymologically they are unrelated. Then two more homonymous words appeared in
the English language, one comes from Old French son (L. sonus) and denotes
‘that which is or may be heard’ and the other from the French sunder the
surgeon’s probe. One of the most debatable problems in semasiology is the
demarcation line between homonymy and polysemy, i.e. between different meanings
of one word and the meanings of two homonymous words.  [15,p55]

If
homonymy is viewed diachronically then all cases of sound convergence of two
or, more words may be safely regarded as cases of homonymy as, e.g., sound i,
sound2, sound-e, and sound4 which can be traced back to four etymologically
different words.  The transition from polysemy to homonymy is a gradual
process, so it is hardly possible to point out the precise stage at which
divergent semantic development tears asunder all ties of etymological kinship
and results in the appearance of two separate words. In the case of flower,
flour, e.g., it is mainly the resultant divergence of graphic forms that gives
us grounds to assert that the two meanings which originally made up the
semantic structure of one word are now apprehended as belonging to two
different words.

Synchronically
the differentiation between homonymy and polysemy is wholly based on the
semantic criterion. It is usually held that if a connection between the various
meanings is apprehended by the speaker, these are to be considered as making up
the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, otherwise it is a case of
homonymy, not polysemy.

Thus
the semantic criterion implies that the difference between polysemy and
homonymy is actually reduced to the differentiation between related and unrelated
meanings. This traditional semantic criterion does not seem to be reliable,
firstly, because various meanings of the same word and the meanings of two or
more different words may be equally apprehended by the speaker as
synchronically unrelated. For instance, the meaning ‘a change in the form of a
noun or pronoun’ which is usually listed in dictionaries as one of the meanings
of case!—’something that has happened’, ‘a question decided in a court of law’
seems to be just as unrelated to the meanings of this word as to the meaning of
case2 —’a box, a container’, etc

Secondly
in the discussion of lexico-grammatical homonymy it was pointed out that some
of the mean of homonyms arising from conversion (e.g. seal in—seal 3 v; paper
n—paper v) are related, so this criterion cannot be applied to a large group of
homonymous word-forms in Modern English. This criterion proves insufficient in
the synchronic analysis of a number of other borderline cases, e.g.
brother—brothers— ‘sons of the same parent’ and brethren—’fellow members of a
religious society’. The meanings may be apprehended as related and then we can
speak of polysemy pointing out that the difference in the morphological
structure of the plural form reflects the difference of meaning. Otherwise we may
regard this as a case of partial lexical homonymy. The same is true of such
cases as hang—hung—hung—’to support or be supported from above’ and
hang—hanged—hanged—’to put a person to death by hanging’ all of which are
traditionally regarded as different meanings of one polysemantic word.

It
is sometimes argued that the difference between related and unrelated meanings
may be observed in the manner in which the meanings of polysemantic words are
as a rule relatable. It is observed that different meanings of one word have
certain stable relationships which are not to be found between the meanings of
two homonymous words. A clearly perceptible connection, e.g., can be seen in
all metaphoric or metonymic meanings of one word (e.g., foot of the man— foot
of the mountain, loud voice—loud colors, etc.,1 cf. also deep well and deep
knowledge, etc.).

Such
semantic relationships are commonly found in the meanings of one word and are
considered to be indicative’ of polysemy. It is also suggested that the
semantic connection may be described in terms of such features as, e.g., form
and function (cf. horn of an animal and horn as an instrument), process and
result (to run—’move with quick steps’ and a run—act of running).

Similar
relationships, however, are observed between the meanings of two homonymic
words, e.g. to run and a run in the stocking.

Moreover
in the synchronic analysis of polysemantic words we often find meanings that
cannot be related in any way, as, e.g., the meanings of the word case discussed
above. Thus the semantic criterion proves not only untenable in theory but also
rather vague and because of this impossible in practice as it cannot be used in
discriminating between several meanings of one word and the meanings of two
different words.

A
more objective criterion of distribution suggested by some linguists is
criteria: undoubtedly helpful, but mainly increase-distribution of lexico —
grammatical and grammatical homonymy. When homonymic words of Context, belong
to different parts of speech they differ not only in their semantic structure,
but also in their syntactic function and consequently in their distribution. In
the homonymic pair paper n—(to) paper v the noun may be preceded by the article
and followed by a verb; (to) paper can never be found in identical
distribution. This formal criterion can be used to discriminate not only
lexico-grammatical but also grammatical homonyms, but it often fails the
linguists in cases of lexical homonymy, not differentiated by means of
spelling.

Homonyms
differing in graphic form, e.g. such lexical homonyms as knight—night or
flower—flour, are easily perceived to be two different lexical units as any
formal difference of words is felt as indicative of the existence of two
separate lexical units. Conversely lexical homonyms identical both in
pronunciation and spelling are often apprehended as different meanings of one
word. It is often argued that the context in which the words are used suffices
to perceive the borderline between homonymous words, e.g. the meaning of case
in several cases of robbery can be easily differentiated from the meaning of
case2 in a jewel case, a glass case. This however is true of different meanings
of the same word as recorded in dictionaries, e.g. of case as can be seen by
comparing the case will be tried in the law-court and the possessive case of
the noun. Thus, the context serves to differentiate meanings but is of little
help in distinguishing between homonymy and polysemy. Consequently we have to
admit that no formal means have as yet been found to differentiate between
several meanings of one word and the meanings of its homonyms. We must take
into consideration the note that in the discussion of the problems of polysemy
and homonymy we proceeded from the assumption that the word is the basic unit
of language.

1
It should be pointed out that there is another approach to the concept of the
basic language unit which makes the problem of differentiation between polysemy
and homonymy irrelevant.

Some
linguists hold that the basic and elementary units at the semantic level of
language are the lexico-semantic variants of the word, i.e. individual
word-meanings. In that case, naturally, we can speak only of homonymy of
individual lexico-semantic variants, as polysemy is by definition, at least on
the synchronic plane, the co-existence of several meanings in the semantic
structure of the word. The criticism of this viewpoint cannot be discussed
within the framework different semantic structure. The problem of homonymy is
mainly the problem of differentiation between two different semantic structures
of identically sounding words.

2.
Homonymy of words and homonymy of individual word-forms may be regarded as full
and partial homonymy. Cases of full homonymy are generally observed in words
belonging to the same part of speech. Partial homonymy is usually to be found
in word-forms of different parts of speech.

3.
Homonymous words and word-forms may be classified by the type of meaning that
serves to differentiate between identical sound-forms. Lexical homonyms differ
in lexical meaning, lexico-grammatical in both lexical and grammatical meaning,
whereas grammatical homonyms are those that differ in grammatical meaning only.

4.
Lexico-grammatical homonyms are not homogeneous. Homonyms arising from conversion
have some related lexical meanings in their semantic structure. Though some
individual meanings may be related the whole of the semantic structure of
homonyms is essentially different.

5.
If the graphic form of homonyms is taken into account, they are classified on
the basis of the three aspects — sound-form, graphic form and meaning — into
three big groups: homographs (identical graphic form), homophones (identical
sound-form) and perfect homonyms (identical sound- and graphic form).

6.
The two main sources of homonymy are:

1)
diverging meaning development of one polysemantic word, and

2)
convergent sound development of two or more different words. The latter is the
most potent factor in the creation of homonyms.

7.
The most debatable problem of homonymy is the demarcation line between homonymy
and polysemy, i.e. between different meanings of one word and the meanings of
two or more phonemically different words.

8.
The criteria used in the synchronic analysis of homonymy are:

1)
the semantic criterion of related or unrelated meanings;

2)
the criterion of spelling;

3)
the criterion of distribution, and

4)
the criterion of context.

In
grammatical and lexico-grammatical homonymy the reliable criterion is the
criterion of distribution. In lexical homonymy there are cases when none of the
criteria enumerated above is of any avail. In such cases the demarcation line
between polysemy and homonymy is rather fluid.’

9.
The problem of discriminating between polysemy and homonymy in theoretical
linguistics is closely connected with the problem of the basic unit at the
semantic level of analysis.

In
applied linguistics this problem is of the greatest importance in lexicography
and also in machine translation.

During
several scores of years the problem of distinction of polysemy and homonymy in
a language was constantly arising the interest of lexicologists is in many
countries.

                      2. Distinguishing homonymy from
polysemy

    The
synchronic treatment of English homonyms brings to the forefront a set of
problems of paramount importance for different branches of applied linguistics:
lexicography, foreign language teaching and information retrieval. These
problems are: the criteria distinguishing homonymy from polysemy, the
formulation of rules for recognizing different meanings of the same homonym in
terms of distribution, and the description of difference between patterned and
non-patterned homonymy. It is necessary to emphasize that all these problems
are connected with difficulties created by homonymy in understanding the
message by the reader or listener, not with formulating one’s thoughts; they
exist for the speaker though in so far as he must construct his speech in a way
that would prevent all possible misunderstanding.

    All three problems are so closely
interwoven that it is difficult to separate them. So we shall discuss them as
they appear for various practical purposes. For a lexicographer it is a problem
of establishing word boundaries. It is easy enough to see that match, as
in safety matches, is a separate word from the verb match ‘to
suit’. But he must know whether one is justified in taking into one entry match,
as in football match, and match in meet one’s match ‘one’s
equal’.

     On the synchronic level, when
the difference in etymology is irrelevant, the problem of establishing the
criterion for the distinction between different words identical in sound form,
and different meanings of the same word becomes hard to solve. Nevertheless the
problem cannot be dropped altogether as upon an efficient arrangement of
dictionary entries depends the amount of time spent by readers in looking up a
word: a lexicographer will either save or waste his readers’ time and effort.

    Actual solutions
differ. It is a wildly spread practice in English lexicography to combine in
one entry words of identical phonetic form showing similarity of lexical
meaning or, in other words, revealing a lexical invariant, even if they belong
to different parts of speech. In our country a different trend has settled.    
Polysemy characterizes words that have more than one meaning — any dictionary
search will reveal that most words are polysemes — word itself has 12
significant senses, according to WordNet. This means that the word,
word, is used in texts scanned by lexicographers to represent twelve different
concepts.

The point is that words are
not meanings, although they can have many meanings.     Lexicographers make a
clear distinction between different words by writing separate entries for each
of them, whether or not they are spelled the same way. The dictionary of Fred
W. Riggs has 5 entries for the form, bow — this shows that
lexicographers recognize this form (spelling) as a way of representing five
different words. Three of them are pronounced bo and two bau, which identifies two
homophones in this set of five homographs, each of which is a polyseme, capable
of representing more than one concept. To summarize: bow is a word-form that
stands for two different homophones and, as a homograph, represents five
different words.

    Moreover, the form bow
is polysemic and can represent more than 20 concepts (its various meanings or
senses). By gratuitously putting meaning in its definition of a homograph, WordNet
can mislead readers who might think that a word is a homonym because it has
several meanings — but having one word represent more than one concept is
normal — just consider term as an example: it can not only refer to the
designator of a concept, but also the duration of something, like the school
year or a politician’s hold on office, a legal stipulation, one’s standing in a
relationship (on good terms) and many other notions — more than 17 are
identified in the dictionary edited be Fred W. Riggs. By contrast, homonyms are
different words and each of them (as a polyseme) can have multiple meanings.

    To make their definitions precise, lexicographers need
criteria to distinguish different words from each other even though they are
spelled the same way. This usually hinges on etymology and, sometimes, parts of
speech. One might, for example, think that that firm ‘steadfast’ and firm
‘business unit’ are two senses of one word (polyseme). Not so! Lexicographers
class them as different words because the first evolved from a Latin stem
meaning throne or chair, and the latter from a different root in Italian
meaning signature.

    Dictionaries are not uniform in their treatment of the
different grammatical forms of a word. In some of them, the adjective firm
(securely) is handled as a different word from the noun firm (to settle)
even though they have the same etymology. Fred W. Riggs isn’t persuaded such
differences justify treating grammatical classes (adjectives, nouns, and verbs)
of a word-form that belongs to a single lexeme as different words — the
precise meaning of lexeme is 1. WordNet is a Lexical Database for
English prepared by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University.

explained below. The relevant point here is that deciding
whether or not a form identifies one or more than one lexeme does not hinge on meanings.
There is agreement that a word-form represents different words when they
evolved from separate roots, and some lexicographers treat each grammatical use
of a lexeme (noun, verb, adjective) as though it were a different word.

    The etymological criterion may lead to distortion of the
present day situation. The English vocabulary of today is not a replica of the
Old English vocabulary with some additions from borrowing. It is in many
respects a different system, and this system will not be revealed if the
lexicographers guided by etymological criteria only.

    A more or less simple, if not very rigorous, procedure
based on purely synchronic data may be prompted by analysis of dictionary
definitions. It may be called explanatory transformation. It is based on
the assumption that if different senses rendered by the same phonetic complex
can be defined with the help of an identical kernel word-group, they may be
considered sufficiently near to be regarded as variants of the same word; if
not, they are homonyms.

    Consider the following set of examples:

1.    
A child’s voice is heard.¹

2.    
His voice…was…annoyingly well-bred.²

3.    
The voice-voicelessness
distinction…sets up some English consonants in opposed pairs…

4.    
In the voice contrast of active and
passive…the active is the unmarked form.

    The first variant (voice₁) may be
defined as ‘sound uttered in speaking or singing as characteristic of a
particular person’, voice₂ as ‘mode of uttering sounds in
speaking or singing’, voice₃ as ‘the vibration of the vocal chords
in sounds uttered’. So far all the definitions contain one and the same kernel
element rendering the invariant common basis of their meaning. It is, however,
impossible to use the same kernel element for the meaning present in the fourth
example. The corresponding definition is: “Voice – that form of the verb that
expresses the relation of the subject to the action”. This failure to satisfy
the same explanation formula sets the fourth meaning apart. It may then be
considered a homonym to the polysemantic word embracing the first three
variants. The procedure described may remain helpful when the items considered
belong to different parts of speech; the verb voice may mean, for
example, ‘to utter a sound by the aid of the vocal chords’.  

    This brings us to the problem of patterned homonymy,
i.e. of the invariant lexical meaning present in homonyms that have developed
from one common source and belong to various parts of speech.

     Is a lexicographer justified in placing the verb voice
with the above meaning into the same entry with the first three variants of
the noun? The same question arises with respect to after or before
– preposition, conjunction and adverb.

    English lexicographers think it quite possible for one
and the same word to function as different parts of speech. Such pairs as act
n – act v; back n — back v; drive n – drive v;
the above mentioned after and before and the like, are all
treated as one word functioning as different parts of speech. This point of
view was severely criticized. It was argued that one and the same word could
not belong to different parts of speech simultaneously, because this would
contradict the definition of the word as a system of forms.

    This viewpoint is not faultless
either; if one follows it consistently, one should regard as separate words all
cases when words are countable nouns in one meaning and uncountable in another,
when verbs can be used transitively and intransitively, etc. In this case hair₁
‘all the hair that grows on a person’s head’ will be one word, an uncountable
noun; whereas ‘a single thread of hair’ will be

denoted by another word (hair₂)
which, being countable, and thus different in paradigm, cannot be considered
the same word. It would be tedious to enumerate all the absurdities that will
result from choosing this path. A dictionary arranged on these lines would
require very much space in printing and could occasion much wasted time in use.
The conclusion therefore is that efficiency in lexicographic work is secured by
a rigorous application of etymological criteria combined with formalized
procedures of establishing a lexical invariant suggested by synchronic
linguistic methods.

    As to those concerned with
teaching of English as a foreign language, they are also keenly interested in
patterned homonymy. The most frequently used words constitute the greatest
amount of difficulty, as may be summed up by the following jocular example: I
think that this “that” is a conjunction but that that “that” that that man used
as pronoun.

    A correct understanding of this
peculiarity of contemporary English should be instilled in the pupils from the
very beginning, and they should be taught to find their way in sentences where
several words have their homonyms in other parts of speech, as in Jespersen’s
example: Will change of air cure love? To show the scope of the problem
for the elementary stage a list of homonyms that should be classified as
patterned is given below:

    Above, prp, adv, a; act,
n, v; after, prp, adv, cj; age, n, v; back, n, adv, v;   ball,
n, v; bank, n, v; before, prp, adv, cj; besides, prp, adv;
bill, n, v; bloom, n, v; box, n, v. The other examples
are: by, can, close, country, course, cross, direct, draw, drive, even,
faint, flat, fly, for, game, general, hard, hide, hold, home, just, kind, last,
leave, left, lie, light, like, little, lot, major, march, may, mean, might,
mind, miss, part, plain, plane, plate, right, round, sharp, sound, spare,
spell, spring, square, stage, stamp, try, type, volume, watch, well, will.  

    For the most part all these words
are cases of patterned lexico-grammatical homonymy taken from the minimum
vocabulary of the elementary stage: the above homonyms mostly differ within
each group grammatically but possess some lexical invariant. That is to say, act
v follows the standard four-part system of forms with a base form act,
an s-form (act-s), a Past Indefinite Tense form (acted) and an
ing-form (acting) and takes up all syntactic functions of verbs, whereas
act n can have two forms, act (sing.) and act (pl.). Semantically
both contain the most generalized component rendering the notion of doing
something.

    Recent investigations have shown
that it is quite possible to establish and to formalize the differences in
environment, either syntactical or lexical, serving to signal which of the
several inherent values is to be ascribed to the variable in a given context.
An example of distributional analysis will help to make this point clear.

    The distribution of a
lexico-semantic variant of a word may be represented as a list of structural
patterns in which it occurs and the data on its combining power. Some of the
most typical structural patterns for a verb are: N + V + N; N + V + Prp + N; N
+ V + A; N + V + adv; N + V + to + V and some others. Patterns for nouns are
far less studied, but for the present case one very typical example will
suffice. This is the structure: article + A + N.

    In the following
extract from “A Taste of Honey” by Shelagh Delaney the morpheme laugh
occurs three times: I can’t stand people who laugh at other people. They’d
get a bigger laugh, if they laughed at themselves.

    We recognize laugh
used first and last here as a verb, because the formula is N + laugh +
prp + N and so the pattern is in both cases N + V + prp + N. In the beginning
of the second sentence laugh is a noun and the pattern is article +     
A + N.

    This elementary example
can give a very general idea of the procedure which can be used for solving
more complicated problems.

    We may sum up our
discussion by pointing out that whereas distinction between polysemy homonymy
is relevant and important for lexicography it is not relevant for the practice
of either human or machine translation. The reason for this is that different
variants of a polysemantic word are not less conditioned by context then
lexical homonyms. In both cases the identification of the necessary meaning is
based on the corresponding distribution that can signal it and must be present
in the memory either of the pupil or the machine. The distinction between
patterned and non-patterned homonymy, greatly underrated until now, is of far
greater importance. In non-patterned homonymy every unit is to be learned
separately both from the lexical and grammatical points of view. In patterned
homonymy when one knows the lexical meaning of a given word in one part of
speech, one can accurately predict the meaning when the same sound complex
occurs in some other part of speech, provided, of coarse, that there is
sufficient context to guide one.

Conclusion

We
have come to conclusion  that:

1.Homonyms
are the words identical in sound and spelling, but different in meaning.

Modern
English is exceptionally rich in homonymous words and word-forms. It is held
that languages where short words abound have more homonyms than those where
longer words are prevalent. Therefore it is sometimes suggested that abundance
of homonyms in Modern English is to be accounted for by the monosyllabic
structure of the commonly used English words.

2.Homonyms
are classifiable into:

  
-homophones

  
— homographs

  
— homonyms proper

Homophones
are the words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning.

Homographs
are words different in sound and in meaning, but accidentally identical in
spelling.

Homonyms
proper are words identical in pronunciation  and spelling.

3. Synchronically the differentiation
between homonymy and polysemy is wholly based on the semantic criterion. It is
usually held that if a connection between the various meanings is apprehended
by the speaker, these are to be considered as making up the semantic structure
of a polysemantic word, otherwise it is a case of homonymy, not polysemy.

Thus
the semantic criterion implies that the difference between polysemy and
homonymy is actually reduced to the differentiation between related and
unrelated meanings. This traditional semantic criterion does not seem to be
reliable, firstly, because various meanings of the same word and the meanings
of two or more different words may be equally apprehended by the speaker as
synchronically unrelated.

4.Having
learned the literature , we have come to conclusion that great contribution to 
lexicology was  brought by: Akhmanova O.S, Potter S., Smirnitsky A.I.

Bibliography

1 Abayev
V.I. Homonyms T. O’qituvchi 1981 p. 29

2. Akhmanova
O.S. Lexicology: Theory and Method. M. 1972 p. 59

      3.Arakin English Russian Dictionary
M.Russky Yazyk 1978 p. 119     

     4. Arnold
I.V. The English Word M. High School 1986 p. 143

     5. Bloomsbury Dictionary of New Words. M. 1996 p.276

     6. Buranov, Muminov
Readings on Modern English Lexicology T. O’qituvchi   1985 p. 47

    7.  Burchfield R.W.
The English Language. Lnd. ,1985 p.47

    8.  Canon G.
Historical Changes and English Wordformation: New Vocabulary items. N.Y., 1986.
p.284

     9.  Dubenets E.M.
Modern English Lexicology (Course of Lectures) M., Moscow State Teacher
Training University Publishers 2004 p. 31

10.   Ginzburg
R.S. et al. A Course in Modern English Lexicology. M., 1979 p. 82

 11 .Halliday
M.A.K. Language as Social Semiotics. Social Interpretation of Language and
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 12.  Hornby
The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Lnd. 1974 p. 111

 13 . Howard
Ph. New words for Old. Lnd., 1980. p.311

 14.   Jespersen.
Linguistics. London, 1983, p. 412

 15.   Jespersen
,Otto. Growth and Structure of the English Language. Oxford, 1982 p. 249

16.    Longman
Lexicon of Contemporary English. Longman. 1981p.23

17.   Maurer
D.W. , High F.C. New Words — Where do they come from and where do they go.
American Speech., 1982.p.171

18.    Potter
S. Modern Linguistics. Lnd., 1957 p. 54

19.   Schlauch,
Margaret. The English Language in Modern Times. Warszava, 1965. p.342

 20.   Sheard,
John. The Words we Use. N.Y..,1954.p.3

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Homonyms in English M.1977 p. 90

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There are many aspects of the English language that might be described as tricky, or even vexatious. Among these are the large number of words that are spelled differently but which sound the same. Or all the words which are spelled the same but don’t sound the same at all. Or the fact that there is a single word which describes these two very different types of words. Welcome to homophones, homographs, and homonyms.

Homophones vs. Homographs vs. Homonyms

Here is the simplest explanation we can give for each of these words:

Homophones are words that sound the same but are different.

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but are different.

Homonyms can be homophones, homographs, or both.

Here is a slightly less simple explanation for each of these words:

Homophones are words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling. These words may be spelled differently from each other (such as to, too, and two), or they may be spelled the same way (as in quail meaning ‘to cower’ and quail meaning a type of bird).

Homographs are words that are spelled alike but are different in meaning or derivation or pronunciation. Sometimes these words sound different (as in the bow of a ship, and the bow that shoots arrows), and sometimes these words sound the same (as in quail meaning ‘to cower’ and quail meaning a type of bird).

Homonym may be used to refer to either homophones or to homographs. Some people feel that the use of homonym should be restricted to words that are spelled alike but are different in pronunciation and meaning, such as the bow of a ship and the bow that shoots arrows.

Tricks for Keeping them Apart

If you would like to distinguish between these words but have trouble remembering their differences, etymology can be of assistance. All of these words are formed with the combining form homo-, meaning “one and the same; similar; alike,” and each has an additional root that sheds light on the word’s meaning. Homophone comes from the Greek -phōnos (meaning “sounding”); homograph is from the Greek graphein (“to write”); homonym is from the Greek onyma (meaning “name”).