Note 145 – What are homographs?

“Homographs are words with the same spelling but different meanings” and they can sometimes sound different too (according to Bernard C Lamb in his book The Queen’s English).  ‘Homo’ means the same and ‘graph’ means picture or drawing – to remember this, imagine the same picture or drawing. 

Examples: think about the word ‘row’ – it can rhyme with ‘go’ and also with ‘cow’ as follows:

1. The word row which rhymes with go – you can row with your oars as in “row row row your boat….” and line things up as in “and little maids all in a row…”
2. The version or row which rhymes with cow – as in ‘they row (have a quarrel) with each other all the time’.

Other examples of homographs:

• The word wind as in “the wind blew” is spelt the same as “I need to wind up my manual clock”
• The word tear as in “I shed a tear today” is spelt the same as “I tear up my bank statements after five years”

As a writer, you have to be clear which meaning you are using otherwise it could get very confusing.

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Until tomorrow…

Sandra

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Reference list:

Bernard C. Lamb The Queen’s English (2010), UK