For homonyms in scientific nomenclature, see Homonym (biology).
Words spelled or pronounced the same with different meanings
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either homographs—words that have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation)—or homophones—words that have the same pronunciation (regardless of spelling)—or both.[1] Using this definition, the words row (propel with oars), row (a linear arrangement) and row (an argument) are homonyms because they are homographs (though only the first two are homophones); so are the words see (vision) and sea (body of water), because they are homophones (though not homographs).
A more restrictive and technical definition requires that homonyms be simultaneously homographs and homophones[1]—that is, they have identical spelling and pronunciation but different meanings. Examples include the pair stalk (part of a plant) and stalk (follow/harass a person) and the pair left (past tense of leave) and left (opposite of right).
A distinction is sometimes made between true homonyms, which are unrelated in origin, such as skate (glide on ice) and skate (the fish), and polysemous homonyms, or polysemes, which have a shared origin, such as mouth (of a river) and mouth (of an animal).[2][3]
The relationship between a set of homonyms is called homonymy, and the associated adjective is homonymous, homonymic, or in Latin, equivocal. Additionally, the adjective homonymous can be used wherever two items share the same name,[4][5] independent of how closely they are related in terms of their meaning or etymology. For example, the name Ōkami is homonymous with the Japanese term for "wolf" (ōkami).
^ abhomonym, Random House Unabridged Dictionary at dictionary.com
^"Linguistics 201: Study Sheet for Semantics". Pandora.cii.wwu.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
^Semantics: a coursebook, p. 123, James R. Hurford and Brendan Heasley, Cambridge University Press, 1983
^"the definition of homonymous". www.dictionary.com.
^"homonymous — definition, examples, related words and more at Wordnik". Wordnik.com.
In linguistics, homonyms are words which are either homographs—words that have the same spelling (regardless of pronunciation)—or homophones—words that...
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