A short note on Homonyms

Homonyms are pronounced the same words and differ in meaning or spelt the same and differ in pronunciation. For example, “Buy” and “By.” on the other hand, homophones are words with the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings. It can be studied well by the examples of homophones. Homophones are necessary to understand to improve the knowledge of the English language. It helps in the development of the vocabulary knowledge of an individual. Around thousands of homophones are used while speaking, creating confusion for native speakers and beginners. For example, Bark( covering a tree) and bark ( sound of a dog).

All about homonyms

Words that are similar and maybe spelt similarly but differ in meaning. Homonyms are considered to be a synonym for homographs and homophones. 

A homograph is those words with the same spelling but different meanings pronounced similarly or not. For example, Bass ( instrument) and Bass ( a fish). 

At the same time, homophones have the same pronunciation and may have the same or different spelling but differ in meaning. For example, they’re, their, and there are homophones.

Therefore homophones and homographs are considered homonyManymany homonyms are used regularly, which is more confusing for beginners and native speakers. They are not much important but rather understand their use properly to create proper meaningful sentences. Differences between the three will help in understanding the meaning of it easily. While the name itself also helps in understanding the difference between this three. 

Homophones, homographs, and homonyms begin with the term “homo,” which means the same or similar. “Phones” from the homophones means the sound. And “graph” from the homograph means the written.

At the same time, “nyms” from the homonyms define the name. Therefore homonyms are referred to as both homographs and homophones. It is also used as a synonym for these both terms. Among these three, homonyms are mostly used more than homographs and homophones.

Your, you’re, to, too, and two kinds of words develop confusion while understanding their meaning because of the same pronunciation in day-to-day life for everyone. These are types of homophones used regularly for speaking the English language. 

Most common confusing examples of homophones:

1. Effect/affect:- the effect is a verb while the effect is a noun.
2. Than/then:- then is an adverb, adjective, or noun. Then, it is a subordinary conjugation.
3. You’re/your:- your is the pronoun used in language while you’re a contraction used for you are.

While native speakers do not face any difficulties while speaking because they can easily understand the homophones, it is difficult for beginners and students to understand them. Therefore many activities have been included in the topic for students allotted by teachers.

Examples of homophones are as follows

1. Break/brake:- both have similar pronunciation but different meanings. While teaching driving to my niece, I told her that if she didn’t hit the brake on time, she would break the car’s side mirror or the entire car.
2. Dye/Die:- If you have drunk dye, you will die.
3. Sell/ cell:- if you find selling drugs, you will reach the cell automatically.
4. Flower/ flour:- to develop a flower-shaped biscuit, we need more flour.
5. Heal/heel:- If a girl puts her heels on someone’s leg, that will need time to heal.
6. Night/knight:- the Knight is on his way to the castle, but travelling at night might be dangerous. 
7. Write/ right:- writers often say there is no right time to write a book.
8. Whether/weather:- I found the weather is a little cloudy, so I am not sure whether I should take an umbrella with me or not.
9. Tale/ tail:- While I was reading the fairy tale, the doggy tried to bite his tail.
10. See/sea:- I love to see the sea early in the morning.
11. Sun/son:- My son wakes up after sunrise.
12. Pour/poor:- My friend is poor to fulfil his finance. He pours a drink at the bar.
13. Except /accept:- Rahul’s assignments have been accepted except the maths one.
14. Complement/compliment:- Rita has complimented raj’s cooking skills while they are complementing dinner.
15. Too/to:- it’s too hot to handle outside.

Conclusion

Homonyms are important for understanding the English language. Instead of understanding the examples, understand their use and meanings, which will be helpful for the overall scenario of homonyms. There are two types of homonyms. Homophones and homographs differ in spelling and pronunciation, and the other differ in sound. In comparison, both have their importance in the language itself. 

Most commonly, many examples of homophones are used, as mentioned in this article above. All the detail and brief notes on the homonyms are part of language understanding for speaking and writing. Understanding homonyms are necessary to avoid the confusion created by them.