homograph
Same letters, different
Homographs are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings.
Some homographs are also homophones, pronounced identically: a bass guitar and a bass in the lake are both spelled b-a-s-s but sound different.
Others share both spelling and sound: bank of a river and bank that holds money.
The term is useful in linguistics and word games.
Openness to multiple interpretations
- polysemyWord having related meanings
- disambiguationRemoving uncertainty about meaning
- contextCircumstances shaping meaning
- meaningWhat something signifies
interpretation · equivocal · multiple meanings · semantics · confusion · clarity · sense · denotation
Correct letter sequence
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- letterWritten symbol or message
- written formLanguage as text
- scriptWritten words for performance
characters · glyphs · alphabet · transcription · notation · letterform · typography · typeface
Alphabetical word reference
- lexiconVocabulary of a language
- entryAccess or submission
- headwordEntry term in dictionaries
- lemmaBase form, or helper theorem
definition · lexeme · lexicology · glossary · wordlist · vocabulary · lexicographer · reference
Same spelling, different sound
- pronunciationManner of speaking words
- accentRegional speech pattern
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- phoneticsStudy of speech sounds
articulation · enunciation · spoken · vocalization · phoneme · syllable · intonation · prosody
Word origin study
- originStarting point or source
- derivationSource or origin tracing
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
- cognateWord sharing etymological origin
loanword · borrowing · etymon · source language · convergence · coincidence · unrelated · word history
ambiguity
Openness to multiple interpretations
- polysemyWord having related meanings
- disambiguationRemoving uncertainty about meaning
- contextCircumstances shaping meaning
meaning · interpretation · equivocal · multiple meanings · semantics · confusion · clarity · sense · denotation · connotation
spelling
Correct letter sequence
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- letterWritten symbol or message
- written formLanguage as text
script · characters · glyphs · alphabet · transcription · notation · letterform · typography · typeface · font
dictionary
Alphabetical word reference
lemma · definition · lexeme · lexicology · glossary · wordlist · vocabulary · lexicographer · reference · lookup
heteronym
Same spelling, different sound
- pronunciationManner of speaking words
- accentRegional speech pattern
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
phonetics · articulation · enunciation · spoken · vocalization · phoneme · syllable · intonation · prosody · elocution
etymology
Word origin study
- originStarting point or source
- derivationSource or origin tracing
- rootUnderground absorbing structure
cognate · loanword · borrowing · etymon · source language · convergence · coincidence · unrelated · word history · ancestor
- linguistic termsacronym, anagram, antonym, synonym, homonym
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
- Word Mix-upshomophone, homonym, malapropism, spoonerism, eggcorn
- semantic relationssynonym, antonym, hypernym, synonymy, antonymy
- dictionariesdictionary, dictionaries, definitions, definition, entries
- spellingspelling, spelling rules, spelling patterns, spelling errors, spelling conventions