Talk:homograph

WRONG!!! Homographs do have same spelling, but not necessarily the same pronunciation. Homonyms do have same spelling AND same pronunciation! Thus, a homonym is always a homograph, but NOT vice versa! — This comment was unsigned.

Isn't that what our entry says? --Connel MacKenzie 18:18, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

This (angry) comment is actually incorrect. You state, "a homonym is always a homograph", which is completely incorrect. In fact, the word homonym is used two ways: 1) as a synonym for homophone, or 2) for words that are both homophones and homographs (e.g. "bear" with me; there's a "bear" in the woods). When the word 'homonym' is used in school, it is taught to include both homophones and homographs. Technically, though, both homophones and homographs belong to the broader category of homonyms. Here is a source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/homonym Melissa60515 (talk) 10:35, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

No, it says "All homographs are homonyms." I spent the past half hour trying to figure that out, because it's the exact opposite of what I thought. And of course that's because it's wrong. :/ — This comment was unsigned.

Difference in meaning

From the definition, I have removed difference in meaning as a key characteristic of a homograph, in this edit. As several dictionaries do mention the difference in meaning in their definitions of "homograph", I feel the need to explain the edit.

Homographs do have different meanings, but that is not what makes them up, what marks them as homographs. Homographs are different words, while a single word often has several meanings. Thus, "cat" (meowing domestic animal often kept as a house cat) and "cat" (a strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship) are not homographs, regardless of their having a different meaning. --Dan Polansky (talk) 11:30, 3 November 2012 (UTC)