What are homonyms?

The English language has hundreds of homonyms. These homonyms can be confusing if you don’t know about them!

So, what does homonym mean?
Homonym means different words that have the same sound, but they have different spellings and different meanings. (Technically these are actually homophones – but the word homonym is commonly used, and the word that most people are familiar with.)

The words in each of these homonym groups have the same pronunciation!

This is only a very short list of examples. There are hundreds of homonym sets in English.

So, does that mean that English speakers often get confused by homonyms? Not at all! Homonyms do not usually cause communication problems between native speakers of English, because they instinctively hear the word that fits with the topic of the conversation. In fact, most of the time, native speakers of English are not even aware of the homonyms that they use.

Every now and then, there may be a moment of misunderstanding caused by a homonym. For example, if someone says “I would like a pair” (2 of something), but the other person thinks they said “I would like a pear” (the fruit). However, this is generally clarified quickly and easily, by saying something like “Oh, I mean I want 2, not a fruit!”

For students of English, the most important thing to realize is that homonyms DO sound the same and should be pronounced the same. You should not try to make them sound different. That could actually cause misunderstandings.

By the way, sometimes homonyms are used for making jokes. Here’s a joke that uses the homonyms red/read:

Question: “What’s black and white and red all over?”
Answer: “The newspaper”

The newspaper is something that people everywhere read, so the question is actually asking “What’s black and white and read all over?” The words “black and white” make you think of the color red rather than the verb to read, which is why the answer comes as a surprise.