What is a Homophone?

Homophones, Homographs & Homonyms—Oh, My!

A homophone belongs to the homonym family. A homonym can be a homophone, a homograph, or both. Confused yet? Let’s look at this collection of words together.

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What is a Homophone?

These are also sometimes called sound-alike words. Homophones (homo – meaning “same” and –phones, from –phonos, meaning “sound”) are words that have the same sound, but not the same meaning or the same spelling.¹ Common homophones you won’t hear the difference between include:

• Affect and effect
• Ewe, yew, and you
• Cite, sight, and site
• Their, there, and they’ret
• To, too, and two

What is a Homograph?

Homographs (again, with homo– meaning “same,” but now with –graph, from “graphein,” meaning “to write”) are words that are spelled the same but are usually (but not always) pronounced differently and have different meanings.¹ Homographs you won’t see the differences (but will hear the differences) between include:

• Bow (of a ship or that shoots arrows)
• Close (to shut or being near)
• Lead (a metal or being ahead)
• Present (a gift or showing something)
• Read (you are reading or you did read)

What is a Homonym?

When we say a word has more than one meaning, we’re usually talking about a homonym, which is spelled and said the same across different definitions. Homonyms (you guessed it—homo– meaning “same,” and –nym, from “onyma,” meaning “name”) can be homophones or homographs—or both.¹ Here are examples of when a homonym is both a homophone (sounds the same) and a homograph (spelled the same):

• Bark (from a dog or on a tree)
• Bow (for hair or for shooting arrows)
• Hail (weather or praising)
• Play (a stage act or a pastime)
• Taxes (a levied fee or something that drains or tires)

What about Heteronyms, Heterographs & Heterophones?

It stands to reason that if the Greek root homo-, for “same,” has the counterpart hetero-, for “different,” that there are also heteronyms, heterographs, and heterophones. But what, exactly, is different—and what’s the same?

• Heteronyms (“different” and “name”): Same spellings but different meanings and pronunciation—which means all heteronyms are homographs but not vice versa. This also means that sometimes the term heterophones (“different” and “sound”) is used instead or in tandem.
• Heterographs (“different” and “write”): Same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings (like fourth and forth).

Homophones (and homographs, and homonyms) are here to stay; they’re important to our speech and writing and if we can remember their correct usage, there shouldn’t be a problem. When in doubt (and working digitally), check in with built-in editing features like Microsoft Editor to ensure you’re writing everything the right way.