homograph

See also: Homograph

English

WOTD – 14 October 2007

Etymology

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒməɡɹɑːf/, /ˈhəʊməɡɹæf/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑːməɡɹæf/, /ˈhoʊməɡɹæf/
Audio (US): (file)
,
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)

Noun

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

homograph (plural homographs)

A word that is spelled the same as another word, usually having a different etymology.
(computing) A text character or string that looks identical to another when rendered.
Hyponym: homoglyph

Usage notes

Homographs are a kind of homonym in the loose sense of that term, i.e. a word that is either a homophone (same sound) or a homograph (same spelling). (The strict sense of homonym is 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 verb bear (“to carry”) and the noun bear (“large omnivorous mammal”) are homographs with the same pronunciation and different etymological origins.
The verb alternate (“to go back and forth”) and the adjective alternate (“following by turns”) are homographs with different pronunciations but close etymological origins. Such homographs are also heteronyms.
The verb meet (“to encounter”) and the noun meat (“food”) are not homographs since they have different spellings.

Related terms

Translations

word with the same spelling but different meaning

Bulgarian: омогра́ф (bg) m (omográf)
Catalan: homògraf (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 同音異義詞／同音异义词 (tóngyīn yìyì), 同音詞／同音词 (zh) (tóngyīncí), 異讀詞／异读词 (zh) (yìdúcí), 同形詞／同形词 (zh) (tóngxíngcí), (of Chinese characters:) 多音字 (zh) (duōyīnzì), 同形異義字／同形异义字 (tóngxíngyìyìzì), 同形字 (tóngxíngzì)
Czech: homograf m
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: homagraf m
Japanese: 同音異義語 (ja) (dōon igigo), 同音語 (ja) (dōongo)
Khmer: កល្បលេខន៍ (kal lekh)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: hevnivîs (ku)
Polish: homograf m
Portuguese: homógrafo (pt) m
Russian: омо́граф (ru) m (omógraf), омо́ним (ru) m (omónim)
Serbo-Croatian: homograf (sh) m, istopisnica (sh) f
Spanish: homógrafo (es) m
Swedish: homograf (sv) c
Thai: คำพ้องรูป (th) (kam-pɔ́ɔng-rûup)
Turkish: eş sesli (tr)

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