Homonym vs. Homophone: A Guide to Words That Sound Alike

The definition of “homonym” is two or more words that sound alike, have the same spelling, or both. Therefore, homophones, heterographs, and any overlap between the two are homonyms. However, not all homonyms are homophones. The etymology for the word “homonym” comes from the Greek prefix “homo” meaning “same,” and “onym” meaning “name.”

Examples of homonyms include “bright,” which relates both to intelligence and level of light, and “mean,” which can refer to both a personality trait or an average.

In the English language, there are a few other terms that share similarities with homonyms, including:

• Heteronyms: A subcategory of homonyms where two or more words share the same spelling but have different pronunciations. They also fall under the category of homographs but not homophones.
• Homonymy: The relationship between a set of homonyms. Homonymy’s adjective forms are “homonymous” or “homonymic.” These are two or more words that share the same name, regardless of how closely they’re related.
• Polysemes: Words with the same spelling and distinct meanings. For example, “mouth” could refer to the body part or the opening of a cave or river. It sounds the same and the meanings are different.
• Capitonyms: These are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalized. For example, polish (to make shiny) vs. Polish (from Poland).

Homophones sound alike but have different meanings. These words are sometimes spelled the same. The word “homophones” derives from the Greek “homo,” meaning “same,” and “phōnḗ,” meaning “voice” or “utterance.”

Common homophones include the pairs of words “ate” (related to eating food) and “eight” (the number that follows seven), “merry” (meaning joyful) and “marry” (related to marrying), “carat” (the weight of pearls and precious stones) and “carrot” (the root vegetable).

There are a few other words related to homophones, including:

• Homographs: These are words with the same spelling but different meanings, such as the “rose” (a “flower”) vs. “rose” (the past tense of “rise”). If the words sound the same, then the homograph is also a homonym, but not all homographs sound the same. An example of a homograph that is not a homonym, would be “minute,” which can be a length of time (60 seconds) or a way to describe something as extremely small.
• Heterographs: These words have different spellings and different meanings, but sound the same, such as “to,” “too,” and “two,” or “rain,” “reign,” and “rein.”
• Homophonous or homophonic: These are phrases that sound the same. One of the most notable is “ice cream” and “I scream,” made popular in the song, “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream.”

The main thing to remember is that homonyms are the primary category of words that sound the same, have identical spellings, or both. Homophones are a major subcategory under that umbrella. Heterographs are homonyms, but they are only homophones when the pronunciation changes.

Homonyms and homophones are not the same as synonyms (words with the same meaning) or antonyms (words with the opposite meaning), which focus solely on the meaning, and not the spelling or pronunciation.

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