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A homonym which is both a homophone and a homograph is fluke, meaning: A fish, and a flatworm. The end parts of an anchor. The fins on a whale's tail. A stroke of luck. These meanings represent at least three etymologically separate lexemes, but share the one form, fluke. [13]
Some are homonyms, such as basta, which can either mean 'enough' or 'coarse', and some exist because of homophonous letters. For example, the letters b and v are pronounced exactly alike, so the words basta (coarse) and vasta (vast) are pronounced identically. [7] Other homonyms are spelled the same, but mean different things in different genders.
Most of the pairs listed below are closely related: for example, "absent" as a noun meaning "missing", and as a verb meaning "to make oneself missing". There are also many cases in which homographs are of an entirely separate origin, or whose meanings have diverged to the point that present-day speakers have little historical understanding: for ...
A homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings. [15] Thus homonyms are simultaneously homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of their pronunciation) and homophones (words that
homonym: names spelled identically, but, in some codes, names spelled similarly, as defined by the code senior homonym (zoology): the first legitimate use of the name which generally takes priority; junior homonym (zoology), later homonym (botany): a later and generally illegitimate use, though in some circumstances the later name is allowed to ...
homonym: 1: a: a word pronounced like another, but differing in meaning or derivation or spelling—also known as a homophone (e.g. to, too, two). b: a word spelled like another, but differing in derivation or meaning or pronunciation—also known as a homograph or heteronym (lead, to conduct, and lead, the metal).
If, when spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, the words are also heteronyms. Words with the same writing and pronunciation (i.e. are both homographs and homophones) are considered homonyms. However, in a broader sense the term "homonym" may be applied to words with the same writing or pronunciation.
Punch, 25 February 1914.The cartoon is a pun on the word "Jamaica", which pronunciation [dʒəˈmeɪkə] is a homonym to the clipped form of "Did you make her?". [1] [2]A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. [3]