Language Arts - Miscellaneous
[ Cross-Curricular ]    [ Punctuation ]    [ Parts of Speech ]    [ Word Analysis ]    [ Miscellaneous ]    [ Home ]   
FEATURED VIDEOS:

Language Arts - Miscellaneous - Homographs

Homographs

Homographs are two different words which have the exact same spelling. These two words must have different pronunciation and meaning to count as true homographs. Consider this example:

bass 


	  word one: a fish (pronounced with the short a sound)
	    sample sentence:
		Joe caught three bass and one catfish while fishing.

	  word two: a string instrument (as in bass guitar) 
		    (pronounced with the long a sound)
	    sample sentence:
		Jill plays the bass in a blue grass band.
Here are two more examples:

dove 


	word one: a bird similar to a pigeon (short o sound)
	  sample sentence:
		The dove landed in the tree.

	word two: past tense of dive (long o sound)
	  sample sentence:
		She dove into the swimming pool.

does 


    	word one: present tense of the verb do (short o sound)
	  sample sentence:
		She does her chores every day.

	word two: female deers  (long o sound)
	  sample sentence:
		The does were grazing in the meadow.
Most of the time we can figure out which meaning and pronunciation to use when we come across a homograph from the context. For instance, if we are talking about fishing and we come across the word bass, it is most likely that we are talking about the fish form of bass. In a musical context we are more likely to be talking about the stringed instrument. There are times that homographs can be a little tricky, but being aware of several examples can help us to deal with these sometimes troublesome words.

Here are a few more examples: 


	moped
	  1. a small motorcycle
	  2. feeling sad

	read
	  1. as in: "They read the newspaper every morning."
	  2. as in: "She read the book last week."

	wound
	  1. past tense of wind (as in winding string around something)
	  2. a cut or scar

	live
	  1. as in: "They live in Elko."
	  2. as in: "The live worms will make good fishing bait."

	invalid
	  1. wrong or outdated
	  2. someone who is injured

	lead
	  1. a heavy metal (for instance, used in fishing weights)
	  2. to guide or show the way

	minute
	  1. 60 seconds
	  2. very small

	put
	  1. to place something on something
	  2. to hit a golf ball

	wind
	  1. a strong breeze
	  2. as in: "They wind the string around the stick."

	number
	  1. a value like 7, 12, or 20.
	  2. to feel more numb (as in to lose feeling)
Click here to continue to quiz
[ Cross-Curricular ]    [ Punctuation ]    [ Parts of Speech ]    [ Word Analysis ]    [ Miscellaneous ]    [ Home ]