Author: HAKIZIMANA Maurice
Homonymy is when two different words share the same form (same spelling, same pronunciation, or both), but do not have the same meaning.Homonymy has two main cases:
Homophones → words that sound the same but are not necessarily spelled the same.
Example: flour (used for baking), flower (the plant).
Homographs → words that are spelled the same but are not necessarily pronounced the same.
Example: lead (to guide) /liːd/ and lead (the metal) /lɛd/.
In short: homonymy is when two words look or sound too similar… but do not mean the same thing.
What about polysemy?
Polysemy is one word that has several meanings, but that keep a logical link between them.
- Head: part of the body, or the head of a company (the person in charge).
- Foot: part of the body, or the foot of a mountain (the bottom).
It’s therefore a single word with several derived meanings.
Homonymy and polysemy: playful demonstrations of the richness and ambiguity of English
- We saw a bat flying, then played with a bat.
- He went to the bank of the river, then to the bank to deposit money.
- The date was sweet (the fruit), and so was the date we had last night.
- They had to bear the pain, but also saw a bear in the forest.
- The teacher asked us to address the issue, but also write our address.
- She gave me her hand in marriage, and a helping hand.
- He is the right person for the job, but he turned to the right.
- The soldier deserted in the desert.
- Close the door before you come close.
- The row of students started a noisy row.
Take care!
This world,
✍️ By Mwalimu HAKIZIMANA Maurice
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