Before knowing Homographs we need to know what Homonyms are?
Homonyms are a combination of 2 syllables Homo and nyms. Homo means the same and nyms mean name. Homonyms are the same in spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings.
Homonyms are further divided into two parts.
- Homophones
- Homographs
Today we will learn what homographs with examples.
What is a homograph?
Homograph is made of two words [ Homo + graph ]. Homo means the same and graph means writing, combining them becomes words having the same writing or we can say the same spelling. So they have common spelling but they are different in some way.
What does it mean?
There are words in English that have same spelling, but have completely different sounds and meanings. These words are called homographs.
Let’s look into the examples of homograph to make things clear:-
| LIVE | LIVE |
| I live in Mumbai. | She performs at Fossils live event in Delhi. |
| He lives with his mother. | The match will be telecasted live today. |
Now we can see two totally different meanings of words spelled the same, but have different sounds So they are called homographs.
Let’s look into another examples:-
| MINUTE | MINUTE |
| I will be there in a minute. | That’s a very minute amount. |
Both words are spelled same but their meanings are totally different.
The word minute refers to time and the other word minute means very little.
Lets see more examples:-
| WIND The wind howled about the building. | WIND Wind your watch |
| CLOSE My home is close to the temple | CLOSE The meeting was closed after Sachin’s speech. |
| LEAD Lead is poisonous for animals. | LEAD He leads his team. |
| TRAIN The train will arrive at 7am. | TRAIN He trains for the Olympics. |
| MISS Miss Radhika is employee of the year. | MISS I miss you so much. |
| MAY Maybe he will come tomorrow. | MAY His exam will start in may. |
| OBJECT I object, your honor. | OBJECT The object is moving. |
| BOW He bowed his head and said welcome. | BOW The ship’s bow looks gorgeous. |
| Bat I am afraid of bats. | Bat Rohit batted for the first time in the t-20 league. |
| Bank I worked for a bank. | Bank He jumped up and went to the opposite bank. |
| Bar She was sitting at the bar. | Bar I ate three bars of chocolate. |
| Desert This area of the country is mostly desert. | Desert The Village was deserted. |
| Left Always look left and right before you cross the road. | Left The plane left for Singapore last night. |
| Letter There’s a letter for you. | Letter A,E,I,O,U these five letters are vowel. |
| Live We used to live in London. | Live The club has live music most nights |
| Minute I’ll be back in a few minutes. | Minute You’d better minute that point. |
| Novel I read a lot of novels. | Novel What a novel idea. |
| Right I’m sure I’m right. | Right Take a right turn at the intersection. |
| Ring What a beautiful ring. | Ring I’ll ring you up later. |
| Sign Headaches may be a sign of stress. | Sign You forgot to sign the cheque. |
| Tie He had to tie her hands together. | Tie I wear a white shirt and black tie at work. |
| Watch I like watching TV every night. | Watch I glanced at my watch. |
| Firm I’m working for a firm of accountants. | Firm These peaches are still firm. |
| Fly Apply was buzzing against the window. | Fly Let’s fly a kite. |
| Tear I’ll tear the package open. | Tear She left the room in tears. |
| Bass I play bass in a jazz band. | Bass Fresh sea bass is a great delicacy. |
| Capital Cairo is the capital of Egypt. | Capital Write your name in capital letters. |
| Chest Her heart was pounding in her chest. | Chest In our family, we should have a Medicine Chest. |
| Can I can speak French fluently. | Can We drank a can of Coke each. |
| Commune She lives in a commune. | Commune It is a place to commune with other person. |
| Fall The area is beautiful in the fall. | Fall The rain was falling steadily. |
| Bark Bark is the layer of stems and roots of woody plants. | Bark The dog is barking. |
| Beat Jenny is beating his younger brother. | Beat He likes to listen beat music. |
| Cell Cell means chemical reactions electronic circuits. | Cell These are the Neuron Cells. |
| Cricket Cricket is a game of sports. | Cricket The insect’s name was Cricket. |
| Fair We are enjoying the fair. | Fair Mary has fair skin. |
| Fan We are fans of Marvel. | Fan The fan is moving so fast. |
| Fine We all are fine as usual. | Fine The fine is 2000 rupees for breaking traffic rules. |
| Iron He is ironing his T-shirt. | Iron To build a house iron is mandatory. |
| Lie She is lie in the sand ground of Goa beach. | Lie The employee was lie to his boss. |
| Lift They lift up the Barbell. | Lift 1st floor lift is not working. |
| Nail She has colorful nails in her hand. | Nail He uses a lot of nails to attach the ply. |
| Note I am writing a note for my sister. | Note He brings a 2000 rupees note with him. |
| Organ Heart is an organ of our body. | Organ I can play this organ right. |
| Palm The Nun read Jonny’s palm and predicted him. | Palm I have 12 palm trees in my garden. |
| Seal The seal eats only fish items. | Seal He is sealing the room. |
| Spirit I have a joyful spirit in the evening. | Spirit The evil’s other name is spirit. |
| Tail A coin has two sides head & tail. | Tail When dogs like someone wag his tails. |
| Trunk The trunk is so old but I love it’s design. | Trunk The Elephant has a trunk. |
| Wave A big wave has coming over | Wave Jimmy waved goodbye. |
Now, we have basic knowledge about Homograph.
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