These words are often tossed around
by teachers and linguists. What do they really mean? The prefix homo- comes
from the Greek word homós which
meant “one and the same.” So all of these words describe some types of
sameness.
Homographs are words that are spelled alike,
but have
different meanings and sometimes different pronunciations. The root graph comes
from the Greek word meaning “drawn or written,” thus these terms are written
the same. For example, stalk is
both a plant stem and a verb meaning to pursue stealthily. Homographs also have
different etymologies.
Not all words that are spelled the
same are pronounced identically, so they may be homographs without being homophones, e.g., lead as a metal and as the verb “to show
the way.” Homophones are words that
are pronounced the same but are different in spelling and meaning. In this case
the combining from phone comes
from the Greek word phōnḗ meaning “voice.” One commonly confused trio of
homophones is to, two, and too.
Homonyms are words spelled or pronounced
alike but different in meaning. Since homonym is used to (ambiguously) describe
either a homograph or homophone, it can cause confusion, though it is often
heard in classrooms in early grades. The root -nym simply
means “word” or “name,” so it applies more broadly than its counterparts.
| (Dictionary.com) |