homograph

See also:Homograph

English

WOTD – 14 October 2007

Etymology

Fromhomo-+‎-graph.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation)IPA^(key):/ˈhɒməɡɹɑːf/,/ˈhəʊməɡɹæf/
• (US)IPA^(key):/ˈhɑːməɡɹæf/,/ˈhoʊməɡɹæf/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Audio(US):

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• Audio(General Australian):

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Noun

Examples
bear(“mammal”)andbear(“to support”)

homograph(pluralhomographs)

1. A word that isspelledthe same as another word, usually having a differentetymology.
2. (computing)Atextcharacterorstringthat looks identical to another when rendered.

   Hyponym:homoglyph

Usage notes

Homographs are a kind ofhomonymin the loose sense of that term, i.e. a word that is either ahomophone(same sound) or ahomograph(same spelling). (The strict sense ofhomonymis a word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word.) Specifically, homographs must have the same spelling, though they usually have different meanings and may be pronounced differently.

• The verbbear(“to carry”)and the nounbear(“large omnivorous mammal”)are homographs with the same pronunciation and different etymological origins.
• The verbalternate(“to go back and forth”)and the adjectivealternate(“following by turns”)are homographs with different pronunciations but close etymological origins. Such homographs are alsoheteronyms.
• The verbmeet(“to encounter”)and the nounmeat(“food”)are not homographs since they have different spellings.

Derived terms

• homographous

Related terms

• allograph
• autograph
• homeograph
• homoglyph
• homographic
• homography
• isograph

Translations

word with the same spelling but different meaning

• Bulgarian:омогра́ф(bg)m(omográf)
• Catalan:homògraf(ca)m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Đồng âm dị nghĩa từ／Đồng âm dị nghĩa từ(tóngyīn yìyì),Đồng âm từ／Đồng âm từ(zh)(tóngyīncí),Dị độc từ／Dị độc từ(zh)(yìdúcí),Đồng hình từ／Đồng hình từ(zh)(tóngxíngcí),(of Chinese characters:)Đa âm tự(zh)(duōyīnzì),Đồng hình dị nghĩa tự／Đồng hình dị nghĩa tự(tóngxíngyìyìzì),Đồng hình tự(tóngxíngzì)

• Czech:homografm
• Dutch:homograaf(nl)m
• Finnish:homografi
• French:homographe(fr)m
• German:Homograph(de)m
• Greek:ομοιογράφος(el)m(omoiográfos)
• Hebrew:הומוגרף(he)m(homográf)
• Hungarian:homográf
• Irish:homagrafm
• Japanese:Đồng âm dị nghĩa ngữ(ja)(dōon igigo),Đồng âm ngữ(ja)(dōongo)
• Khmer:កល្បលេខន៍(kal lekh)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish:hevnivîs(ku)

• Polish:homografm
• Portuguese:homógrafo(pt)m
• Russian:омо́граф(ru)m(omógraf),омо́ним(ru)m(omónim)
• Serbo-Croatian:homograf(sh)m,istopisnica(sh)f
• Slovene:enakopisnicaf,homografm
• Spanish:homógrafo(es)m
• Swedish:homograf(sv)c
• Thai:คำพ้องรูป(th)(kam-pɔ́ɔng-rûup)
• Turkish:eş sesli(tr)

See also

• polyphone

Euler diagram of choice semantic relations.

Nyms (with category [cat] if any)

Noun(cat)	Sound	Spelling	Meaning	phone/graph
identical	same	same	same	homophone&homograph
homophone(cat)	same	different	different	homophone& heterograph
alternative spelling	same	different	same	homophone &heterograph
homonym	same	same	different	homophone & homograph
synonym	different	different	same	heterophone & heterograph
heteronym(cat)	different	same	different	heterophone &homograph
alternative pronunciation	different	same	same	heterophone& homograph
distinct	different	different	different	heterophone&heterograph

Further reading

• homographon Wikipedia.Wikipedia