Lexicology / Homonyms Identical in sound and/or spelling The word homonym comes from the Greek ὁ μώνυμος – „having the same name ”Greek
Examples stalk bank
Related concepts TermMeaningSpellingPronunciation HomonymDifferentSame HomographDifferentSameSame or different HomophoneDifferentSame or differentSame HeteronymDifferentSameDifferent HeterographDifferent Same PolysemeDifferent but relatedSameSame or different Capitonym Different when capitalized Same except for capitalization Same or different
The pun, also called paronomasia Is a form of word play
Pun Example 2 Watching the movie Titanic is a real downer
Different sources of Homonyms Phonetic changes: Night and knight Borrowing: Bank Word-building: Conversion: comb, pale, make Shortening: fan Split polysemy: spring
Classification of Homonyms 1. Full homonyms: match 2. Partial homonyms: - Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms: - Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms - Partial lexical homonyms (to) found, v. found, v. Rose (n) Rose (v) – past indefinite of to rise To lie (lay, lain) (v) To lie (lied, lied) (v)