Difference between Homonymous and Homophonic Words: – Although we remember that in school they once mentioned something about homonymous words and homophones, many of us have forgotten what makes them different. Homophones and homonyms are terms that every teacher of languages uses, for this reason, it is important that we know them and we can give examples of each.
Difference between Homonymous and Homophonic Words
The prefix “homo” derives from the Greek “homos”, which means “one or the same”; therefore, the two concepts we have mentioned above describe some equality between some words of the language, but on what basis is this equality? That is what you can know if you continue reading below, because then we explain clearly what is the difference between homophones and homonyms.
Homonyms
The word “homonymous” is a combination of a Greek word: homo (equal) and a Latin word: names (name) or (word). The word itself gives us a clue about its definition.
As you may have noticed, homonymous words are those that are spelled the same and have the same pronunciation; but they have different meanings. For example, we have the word “wine” that can refer to the drink or to the verb come, “master” that may be the owner of something or be related to the verb to love, “peso” that can refer to the currency or verb regret, “code” (law or inscription difficult to understand), “anger” (anger or disease), “treat” (make a deal with someone or try something) and “llamas” (animal or fire).
Note: homonymous words differ from polysemic, because in the case of the latter the root is the same.
Homophones
On the other hand, homophones (homo – equal, phone – sound, voice) are those that have the same pronunciation but differ in writing.
For example, the words male (male and male) and baron (which is a nobiliary title); also Honda (depth) and wave (ripple effect), up to (limit or level at which something arrives) and antler (animal horn or flag stick), tube (tubing) and had (verb to have); among other.
Finally, something that cannot be forgotten to mention is that all the homonymous words are homophones; but not all homophones are homonymous. The key differences between homonymous and homophonic words are Homonymous words are written and pronounced the same, but they have different meanings; while homophones are pronounced the same, but vary in writing and meaning.
