PAIRS AND SNARES XXV

HETERONYMS

STRESSONYMS

HOMOGRAPHS

HOMOPHONES

 

These terms all describe categories of words used in everyday speech and in wordplay. There is no absolute agreement on their definitions, but I offer my opinion here on how they can be differentiated. 

 

HETERONYMS are extremely rare words in English. A heteronym is a word, usually of one syllable, that is pronounced in two distinctive ways - each pronunciation with a distinctly different meaning.  The following words are heteronyms: LEAD, WOUND, SOW, DOVE, WIND, LIVE, SEWER, FLOWER, TOWER, and NUMBER.

 

STRESSONYMS are fairly common in English. They are also single words that are pronounced in two different ways - with two different meanings. But the difference in pronunciation is due to a change of stress between the (usually) two syllables. This distinguishes them from heteronymns whose two pronunciations involve no change in stress between syllables. Some examples of stressonyms are CONTENT, PRODUCE, RECORD, and PRESENT. Heteronyms are often lumped together with stressonyms. This does a disservice to the distinctive feature of heteronyms - a totally different pronunciation of the same word - with no changes in stress.

HOMOGRAPHS are extremely common words in English. A homograph is simply a word that has two or more meanings. There are thousands of them. ROCK, BALL, LIGHT,and SPRING - are examples. Stressonyms are commonly lumped with homographs. I think this is incorrect. A stressonym's two meanings are due to the change in stress between the syllables. This is not true of homographs - which are simply words with multiple meanings - regardless of stress or syllables. 

 

HOMOPHONES are also very common words in English. Homophones are two (or more) distinct  words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Each homophone is a separate word and has its own meaning. Some homophones are RAIN-REIGN, WEAR-WHERE, THEIR-THERE-THEY'RE. Words like BREAK and BRAKE are homophones and anagrams (made up of the same letters).

The words BOW and BASS should also be mentioned:

BOW is a heteronym. It can be pronounced BOW - as in a tied ribbon or archery bow. It can also be pronounced BOW as in "bend at the waist" - take a bow. But BOW as in "take a bow" can also mean the front of a ship. In this sense, BOW is a homograph - a word with two meanings. But wait, there's more. BOW as either "bend at the waist" or the front of a ship can also be spelled BOUGH (a tree limb). This make BOW and BOUGH homographs. 

BASS is also a heteronym - BASS (with a long A) - the deep male voice  or BASS (with a shore A) - the fish. But BASS (long A) is also a homophone, sounding exactly like BASE but spelled differently. In addition BASE is a homograph, having several meanings (the bottom of a statue, an army base, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in baseball, and morally corrupt). 

These two confusing (but wonderful) words are often used as examples to illustrate heteronyms. This is an unfortunate choice, since they can easily be confused with homographs and homophones.

Finally, the wore HOMONYM can also cause confusion. It is generally defined as "sound alike." In my opinion, it is used indiscriminately to lump together heteronyms, stressonyms, homographs, and homophones. It is an overly general and very vague term. The precisely defined terms - heteronym, stressonym, homogaph, and homophone effectively negate the need for this term. I never use it.