http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
Homography. A homograph is a homonym in which two or more meanings share the same spelling. Homographs may or may not share the same pronunciation. Such words include homophones like bark (the sound of a dog or the skin of a tree), and heteronyms like Berkeley (the name of the university, which is pronounced differently from the name of the school's namesake bishop.)
Homophony. A homophone is a homonym in which two or more meanings share the same pronunciation. Homophones may or may not share the same spelling. Such words include to, too, and two and there, their, and they’re, but also bow (a type of knot) and bow (a weapon used to propel an arrow).
Heteronymy. A heteronym is a homonym with a single spelling but different meanings and pronunciations. Such words include desert (abandon) and desert (arid region), because they are pronounced differently. These are also sometimes called heterophones. They are homographs which differ in pronunciation or, technically, homographs which are not homophones.
Polysemy. A polyseme is a single word with two distinct but related meanings. The distinction between polysemy and homonymy is often subtle and subjective, and not all sources consider polysemous words to be homonyms. Words such as "mouth", meaning either the orifice on one's face, or the opening of a cave or river, are polysemous and may or may not be considered homonyms.
Capitonymy. Capitonyms are homonyms that share spelling but have different meanings when capitalized (and may or may not have different pronunciations). Such words include polish (to make shiny) and Polish (from Poland).
Heterologues. A heterologue is a homonym comprised of words from different languages that have same spelling, but different meanings.
In derivation, homograph means "same writing", homophone means "same sound", heteronym (somewhat confusingly) means "different name", and heterophone means "different sound".
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
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