STRESSONYMS I

Stressonyms are words which change in meaning  when the stress is shifted from one syllable to another in a single word (PRO duce / pro DUCE).   Sometimes there is also a shift in the syllabication of a single word. (If somebody wants you to take a load of trash and you say no, you reFUSE the REFuse.) Stressonyms can also be two-word phrases in which the stress shifts from one word to the other (picket FENCE (posts surrounding a yard) / picket FENCE [a picket sign fighting with a sword].* The following clues can be answered with stressonyms of a single word. 

1. You challenge the results of a competition.

2. Just a brief unit of time

3. Abandon the Sahara.

4. He offers up the gifts.

5. To grow fruits and vegetables.

6. Put a song or musical number on vinyl, tape, CD, etc.

7. Shorten a legal agreement (two answers)

8. To make a doorway charming

9. Satisfied with what's in it

10. To talk intimately with a small group of people

11. You sulked on your small, motorized bike.

12. Picasso in your dresser?

13. Planed a piece of wood from dusk to dark

14. His behavior as an orchestra leader
15. Magnificent summer month

Answers:

1. Contest the contest

2. Minute minute

3. Desert the desert

4. Presents the presents

5. Produce produce

6. Record a record

7. Contract a contract / Compact a compact

8. Entrance an entrance

9. Content with the content

10. Commune with a commune

11. Moped on your moped

12. Drawer in a drawer

13. Evening all evening

14. His conduct as a conductor
15. August August 

 

* For examples of two-word stressonyms, see When I See An Elephant Fly - posted 4/20/17.