different between homonym vs heteronym

English

Etymology

homo- +? -onym

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h?m.??n?m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h?m.??n?m/

Noun

homonym (plural homonyms)

1. (semantics, strict sense) A word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word.
2. (loosely) A word that sounds or is spelled the same as another word, technically called a homophone (same sound) or a homograph (same spelling).
3. (taxonomy) A name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another name that belongs to a different taxon.

Usage notes

• Homonyms (in the broader sense) are divided into the two overlapping subcategories homographs and homophones. Examples:
  • die and dye (homophones but not homographs)
  • the parasitic flatworm called the fluke, the fish called the fluke, and a fluke, part of the tail of a whale (both homophones and homographs and therefore true homonyms in the strict sense)
  • the metal lead and the present tense of the verb lead (homographs but not homophones)

Derived terms

• homonymic
• homonymous

Translations

See also

Further reading

• homonym on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• homonym (biology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Danish

Adjective

homonym (neuter homonymt, plural and definite singular attributive homonyme)

1. homonymic

Noun

homonym

1. homonym

Declension

Swedish

Noun

homonym c

1. homonym

Declension

English

Etymology

Coined around 1900, either from hetero- (“different”) +? -onym (“name”) or from Ancient Greek ?????????? (heter?numos), or perhaps both.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h?t.??.?(?).n?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?h?t.?.?o?.n?m/, /?h?t.?.??.n?m/

Noun

heteronym (plural heteronyms)

1. (linguistics) A word having the same spelling as another, but a different pronunciation and meaning.

   Agape, "astonished" or "wide open," is a heteronym of agape, "Christian love."

2. (literature) A fictitious character created by an author for the purpose of writing in a different style.

Synonyms

• (linguistics): heterophone, homograph

Translations

See also

• List of English heteronyms defined in Wiktionary
• polyphone (a letter [or combination of letters] that can be pronounced in two or more different ways, such as ? / ? in Chinese, pronounced [cháng] in the sense of ’long’ and [zh?ng] in the sense of ’to grow’)