List of English homographs
Homographs are words with the same spelling but having more than one meaning. Homographs may be pronounced the same (homophones), or they may be pronounced differently (heteronyms, also known as heterophones).
Some homographs are nouns or adjectives when the accent is on the first syllable, and verbs when it is on the second. When the prefix "re-" is added to a monosyllabic word, the word gains currency both as a noun and as a verb.
Most of the pairs listed below are closely related: for example, "absent" as a noun meaning "missing", and as a
dialects of English. For a list of homographs with different pronunciations (heteronyms) see Heteronym (linguistics)
.
- absent
- accent
- action
- adder
- address
- advocate
- agape
- alternate
- analyses
- appropriate
- ash
- axes
- back
- balance
- ball
- balls
- bank
- bar
- bark
- bass
- bat
- battery
- bay
- bear
- bimonthly
- bougie
- bow
- brace
- brilliant
- buck
- buffet
- building
- can
- capital
- carp
- certain
- character
- change
- chest
- cleave
- clerical
- clip
- close
- club
- combat
- combine
- commune
- console
- contact
- content
- contest
- contract
- converse
- convert
- cool
- crane
- dab
- damper
- date
- dear
- decrease
- default
- degree
- deliberate
- desert
- die
- discharge
- discount
- dismiss
- dismount
- display
- Djibouti
- does
- doing
- dove
- down
- drain
- drawer
- dub
- duck
- duplicate
- effect
- elaborate
- engage
- entrance
- even
- evening
- excuse
- exploit
- extract
- fall
- fan
- fairly
- file
- finance
- fine
- firm
- float
- flush
- fly
- float
- foot
- football field
- funny
- gas
- gay
- Georgia
- go
- gorge
- grave
- gyro
- harbor
- hard
- hew
- hive
- hoe
- impact
- implant
- import
- impound
- incline
- inclined
- increase
- insert
- insult
- intercept
- interchange
- intestine
- intimate
- into
- intrigue
- invalid
- invite
- jam
- just
- kind
- land
- lead
- learned
- leave
- leaves
- Lebanon
- left
- letter
- lie
- light
- lighter
- lit
- live
- lose
- lumber
- manifest
- mark
- mass
- match
- may
- mean
- median
- mind
- mint
- minute
- mode
- model
- mole
- moped
- mortar
- mouse
- murder
- nail
- notice
- novel
- number
- nut
- obituary
- object
- objective
- obtuse
- odd
- offense
- one
- ought
- overcount
- overlay
- overlook
- palm
- park
- patient
- pen
- pencil
- perfect
- perfume
- permit
- pervert
- pitch
- pin
- plain
- plaster
- play
- polish
- pop
- portmanteau
- possess
- pound
- predate
- present
- pretty
- proceeds
- progress
- project
- protest
- pupil
- purpose
- putting
- quail
- quarry
- quarter
- racket
- read
- rebel
- recall
- recap
- recess
- record
- redress
- refund
- refuse
- regress
- reject
- relapse
- remake
- research
- resent
- reservation
- resume
- retake
- retard
- retract
- revolt
- right
- ring
- rock
- roll
- rose
- round
- row
- ruler
- saw
- scale
- scared
- school
- seal
- second
- sewer
- sheer
- short
- shorts
- show
- shower
- sign
- sink
- skied
- sow
- spirit
- spoke
- spring
- stone
- story
- straight
- subject
- survey
- suspect
- tear
- theory
- they
- tie
- toll
- too
- top
- train
- transfer
- transform
- transplant
- transport
- transpose
- type
- undercount
- update
- uplift
- upset
- venery
- virus
- Washington
- watch
- wave
- widget
- wind
- window
- wound
- yard
- you
See also
Wiktionary has a category on English heteronyms.
Look up List of dialect-dependent homophones in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Look up List of dialect-independent homophones in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.