The Quirkiness of the English Language - Episode 3

HOMOGRAPHS

Right, so here we are again today looking at more quirks in the English language.  We started this little ramble a couple of weeks ago by looking at homophones, which, as we all now know are words that sound the same, may or may not be spelt the same, but have different meanings.  Then, last week we moved on to look at homonyms, those tricky little pairs or groups of words that are spelt the same and sound the same but have different meanings.  As we found out homonyms will also, by definition be homophones but not all homophones will be homonyms – remember to be a homonym the words must be spelt the same. To complete the trilogy today we will be talking about homographs.

So I hear you shout “what are homographs?”  Well these are pairs (or more) of words that are spelt exactly the same but have entirely different meanings.  Words that are not connected in any way other than they share the same spelling.  In some cases they may be pronounced in the same way, in others the way they are spoken may differ, but to qualify as a homograph the spelling will always be the same!

Let’s look at a few examples.  Think of the word “minute”. This could refer to the measurement of time, there are sixty minutes in an hour, or it could refer to something that is so small it can only be seen under a microscope.  How about the word “tear” this can refer to a rip as in a tear in a page or to a tear that rolls down your face when you are crying.  In both these examples the way the word is pronounced is different but, as we have said, the spelling is the same. 

Now let’s look at some examples where the spelling and pronunciation are the same.  Think of the word “wave,” this could be the wave of a hand when saying goodbye to someone, or a huge wave in the sea that may knock down those paddling at the sea shore. Another example is the word “dear” which may be used to mean that something was expensive, or as an endearment meaning loving and affectionate. As you can see these are the same words, with the same spelling and same pronunciation but very different meanings.

I think one of the best examples must be the word “bow”.  Now is this the front of a ship or does it refer to a person bending from the waist, often as a gesture of respect?  These two words are written and pronounced in the same way but have different meanings.  Going one step further we can look at the same written word “bow” but now pronounced slightly differently and may refer to a bow that is used when playing a stringed musical instrument such as a violin, or a bow as in the weapon a bow and arrow or how about a bow that is made of ribbon and used to tie up long hair?  This really has to be my favourite!

I hope you have found these articles useful, and if you require any help with your written English please visit our website www.writtenenglishcorrected.com