HOW TO HETERONYM

Heteronyms are unusual words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. The best heteronyms are single syllable words, because they avoid stressonyms (con' duct /con duct'). There are dozens of stressonyms, but very few heteronyms. A good example of a heteronym is WIND: The WIND blew and I WIND my watch. BASS is also a heteronym. Pronounced with a long "A", it is a low male singing voice or musical instrument. Pronounced with a short "A", it's a type of fish. It's trickier than WIND because BASS - as a type of voice or instrument - is a homophone for BASE (the bottom of something). Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently.

The heteronym confusion is cleverly captured in the following comment heard at a Phish concert (pun intended):

YOU CAN TUNE A GUITAR

BUT YOU CAN'T TUNE A FISH

UNLESS IT'S A BASS.

Credit: Harvey Estes