Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[el7jake]

I think I understand concept of homonyms: two or more words with same pronunciation but different significance and different spelling. But what do you call words like close (near) and close (shut)?


EJake

[lotus]

Hi,

Homograph.

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/justalittlehorse.htm
(has fun links)

quote:

Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but differ in meaning and origin. They may also differ in spelling.

The word homonym is currently most often used as a synonym for homophone.

However, some teachers, writers, and wordsmiths still like to differentiate between the two, using homonym to refer only to words with the same sound and the same spelling, but with different meanings, such as bear (the animal) and bear (carry).

These writers prefer that the word homophone be used only for words with the same sound, but with different spellings and different meanings, such as bear (the animal) and bare (unclothed).

To confuse matters further, the word homograph is used to refer to words with the same spelling but different pronunciations and different meanings, such as polish (shine) and Polish (the language).

end quote


--lotus
_________________
War does not make one great --Yoda

[el7jake]

Lotus,

Thank you for answer question about homonyms. I checked webpage you included and some of links and have a question about one of them

(http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/Materials/ndakota/spelling/lesson1.html)

The first "homonyms" listed from above website are accept/except, affect/effect, and advise/advice. But these pairs are not pronounced the same, so are truly homonyms/homophones?

Thanks for patience in answer questions.

ELJake

[Lorikeet]

Just for an interesting sidelight, I pronounce the first two pairs the same. It is only "advice/advise" that I pronounce differently. (It will no doubt vary with different accents.)