Homophones and Homonyms

The English language is all about words, which are a combination of alphabets. But words can be classified into many categories. These categories are made for easy understanding of the language. There are many categories in which words are divided. Homophones and homonyms are two such categories. To get more deep knowledge of these two categories, read along with the complete article.

Homophones and homonyms – Definition

Before getting into any deep knowledge, you need to understand what are homonyms and homophones. Here is a definition of both of them which will guide you on what are they.

1. Homophones: Homophones are words that may have a similar sound or pronunciation. But the meaning and also spelling of these words are very different. More simply, homophones can be explained as words with similar sounds but different meanings.

2. Homonyms: A homonym can be described as a word that has the same sound and even the same spelling but has a different meaning. Making it simpler, you can understand homonyms as words that have the same pronunciation and or same spelling but a different meaning.

Apart from homonyms and homophones, there is one more major category in which words can be classified. You even need to get familiar with that. Below is a short description of it. Have a look at it as well.

 3.Homographs: Homographs are words that have similar spellings. But when it comes to pronunciation and meaning, the words have no connection. This means words with the same spelling but different meanings and pronunciations can be called homographs.

So these were the three major categories in which words can be classified.

Classify Words: The Need

There are many words in the English dictionary. Some words have the same meaning and different spelling and pronunciation, while some have the same spelling and pronunciation and different meanings.

This becomes very confusing for people to understand the words. In order to ease the process of understanding the language and getting familiar with its words, different categories are being made. Homonyms and homophones are two such categories that help the reader to understand such words and learn them easily.

Homophones and homonyms: Difference

As the definition suggests, the difference between homophones and homonyms is that homophones are words with the same sounds but have different meanings, whereas homonyms are words with the same pronunciation and spellings but different meanings.

Apart from this, the next question that arises is how can you make difference between homophones and homonyms. So here is an answer to it. Below are some differences between them:

• Homophones may or may not have the same spelling, but homonyms have the same spelling

• The meaning of words, both homophones and homonyms, are different

• Homonyms and homophones in both the pronunciation of words are the same

Seeing the above points, you can understand that there are more similarities than dissimilarities between the homophones and homonyms. So yes’ it is quite tricky to differentiate between homophones and homonyms. But will little understanding of the concept of both homonyms and homophones and reading more of homophones and homonyms examples, you will surely be able to successfully differentiate between the two.

Examples of homonyms and homophones

To develop a better understanding of both homophones and homonyms, you must get to know some of the homophones and homonyms examples. As such, there are many examples of both homophones and homonyms, but to get the basic knowledge, you need to first begin with the simplest one.

Here is a homophones and homonyms list that contains some of the commonest examples of both. This list will help to increase your understanding of both homophones and homonyms.

Homophones and homonyms list

• Homophones: Some of the commonest homophones that you must know are as follows:

1. Ate and eight

2. Bald and bawled

3. Aural and oral

4. Assent and ascent

5. Excess and access

6. Blue and blew

7. Barren and baron

8. Beat and beet

9. Boulder and boulder

10. Brake and break

11. Carrot and carat

12. Cent and sent

13. Duel and dual

14. Dye and die

15. Flair and flare

• Homonyms: Some of the commonest homonyms that you must get to know are as follows:

1. Address: Take my address. The chemistry teacher will address the students tomorrow.

2. Match: Seems to love watching a badminton match. Black shoes and a red top make a great match.

3. Ring: I have two-finger rings with me. The phone will ring when she calls.

4. Well: I am his well-wisher. You can fetch some water from the village well.

5. Fly: Dad will fly to Delhi tomorrow. There was a fly in her coffee cup.

These were some of the basic homophones and homonyms example lists. This list will help you to differentiate well between them.

Conclusion

Words can be of many types. An individual must have a better understanding of words. This understanding helps the person to make the good and proper use of words in sentences. Homophones and homonyms are two such categories that help in this process. As the definition suggests, the difference between homophones and homonyms is that homophones are words with the same sounds but have different meanings, whereas homonyms are words with the same pronunciation and spellings but different meanings. One who is thorough with the definitions of homophones and homonyms and with some of the examples, will never face a problem with it.