homonym

See also: Homonym

English

Etymology

From homo- +‎ -onym.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒm.əˌnɪm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑm.əˌnɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

homonym (plural homonyms)

1. (semantics, strict sense) A word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word but has a different meaning.
2. (loosely) A word that sounds or is spelled the same as another word but has a different meaning, technically called a homophone (same sound) or a homograph (same spelling).
3. (taxonomy) A name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another name that belongs to a different taxon.

Usage notes

• Homonyms (in the looser sense) are divided into the two overlapping subcategories homographs and homophones. Examples:
  • die and dye (homophones but not homographs)
  • the parasitic flatworm called a fluke and fluke, part of the tail of a whale (both homophones and homographs and therefore true homonyms in the strict sense)
  • the metal lead and the present tense of the verb lead (homographs but not homophones)

Related terms

• homonymic
• homonymous

Translations

word with the same sound or spelling but different meaning

• Armenian: համանուն (hy) (hamanun)
• Bulgarian: омоним (bg) m (omonim)
• Catalan: homònim (ca) m, n
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同音異義詞, 同音异义词 (tóngyīn yìyì), 同音詞 (zh), 同音词 (zh) (tóngyīncí)

• Crimean Tatar: omonim
• Czech: homonymum (cs) n
• Danish: homonym (da) n
• Dutch: homoniem (nl) n
• Esperanto: homonimo
• Finnish: homonymia
• French: homonyme (fr) m, n
• German: Homonym (de) n, Homonymum n
• Greek: ομώνυμο (el) n (omónymo)
• Hebrew: הוֹמוֹנִים‎‎ m

• Ido: homonimo (io)
• Japanese: 同音異義語 (dōon igigo), 同音語 (dōongo)
• Khmer: កល្បពាក្យ (kɑlpa’ piek)
• Korean: 동음 이의어 (同音異義語, dong-um ei-uei-eo)
• Kumyk: аваздаш (avazdaş)
• Latin: homonymum n
• Manx: co-ennym m
• Polish: homonim (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: homónimo (pt) m (Portugal), homônimo (pt) (Brazil)
• Romanian: omonim (ro) m
• Russian: омо́ним (ru) m (omónim)
• Serbo-Croatian: homonim (sh) m
• Spanish: homónimo (es) m
• Swedish: homonym (sv) c
• Turkish: homonim (tr), sesteş (tr)

See also

An Euler diagram showing the relationship between these -nyms.

Different Meanings

nym	Sound	Spelling	Category
homonym	same	same
heteronym	different	same	(cat)
homograph	not specified	same
homophone	same	different	(cat)
heterophone	different	different
synonym	different	different

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Danish

Adjective

homonym (neuter homonymt, plural and definite singular attributive homonyme)

1. homonymic

Noun

homonym

1. homonym

Declension

Declension of homonym

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	homonym	homonymet	homonymer	homonymerne
genitive	homonyms	homonymets	homonymers	homonymernes

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Swedish

Noun

homonym n, c

1. homonym

Declension

Declension of homonym
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	homonym	homonymen	homonymer	homonymerna
Genitive	homonyms	homonymens	homonymers	homonymernas