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Glite Dictionary
homonym

homonym

3 7.6
A word with the same spelling or sound as another word but a different meaning
  • noun
  • /ˈhɒmənɪm/
translation icon : homónimo
  • We avoided homonyms (e.g., night, knight) because the word strings were presented auditorily.
  • homonym meaning
  • multiple homonym
  • inappropriate homonym

Herbivorous, A duck billed Platypus Name a part of the human body that is a homonym.

Examples

  • Below each sentence, two alternative meanings of the homonym and an anchored rating scale were provided.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The results of Experiment 1 demonstrate selective access to homonym meanings quite clearly.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Table 1 provides an example of the four sentence types for one homonym.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Each experimental sentence ended with a homonym and contained no other words that might directly prime the target.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Similar forms may bring different messages, as homonyms, which sound alike but have different meanings.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Your and you're are not the same words; they are homonyms, not synonyms.

    Blog text (6)

  • Studies reporting access to multiple homonym meanings have been widely cited throughout the psychological and psycholinguistic literature.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The first words took the class back to a simpler time, when troublesome homonyms such as principal, stationery, and counsel were the rage.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Rubenstein, Garfield, and Millikan (1970) have obtained faster lexical decisions for homonyms than for unambiguous words.

    Academic text (1991)

  • A homonym is a word like 'bat,' which can mean both a flying mammal and a piece of sports equipment.

Surface Forms

homonym singular
homonyms plural

Morphology

homonym = homo + onym

Formed from the combining forms 'homo-' (same) + '-onym' (name); the structure is clear to learners familiar with such Greek combining forms (e.g., homophone, synonym) but not fully transparent to an average B1 learner who may not know these elements.

Etymology

The word homonym comes from the Greek parts homo- 'same' and -onym 'name'. That 'same name' idea explains why homonyms are words that look or sound the same but have different meanings.