Homonyms

Homonyms

Homonyms are the words that sound like one another, particularly when that are pronounced the 

same way but spelt differently.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a homonym as: each of the two or more words having the 

same spelling and/or pronunciation or different spelling and/or pronunciation but different meanings 

and origins.

Example: Pole and Pole

The first Pole refers to a citizen of Poland who could either be referred to as Polish or a Pole. The 

second Pole refers to a bamboo pole or any other wooden pole.

The Homonyms will have the similarity among them either in their spellings or in their pronunciation 

or in both.

Homonyms are good friends of writers specializing in humor, since they make excellent raw materials 

for puns.

A homonym is used to refer to words which have the same spelling and pronunciation but have a 

different meaning.

Here are a few examples:

May (month), may (possibility); can (be able), can (put something in container); bear (the animal), 

bear (to carry).

List of Commonly Confused Homonyms

This is a list of commonly confused homonyms, including both homophones — words with the same 

pronunciation — and homographs — words with the same spelling.

1. accept: tolerate

except: everything but

2. add: put together with

ad: short for "advertisement"

Topic 1 Functional English Lecturer: Qasim Raja

3. allowed: permitted

aloud: audibly

4. allot: to distribute, allocate

a lot: much; many (a lot of)

5. allusion: indirect reference

elusion: evasion

elution: separation by washing

illusion: a distortion of sensory perception

6. bare: as a verb, to expose, to remove cover; as a noun, naked, exposed; very little (bare 

necessities)

bear: as a noun, a large mammal (e.g. American Black Bear); as a verb, to carry something 

("to bear arms"), to endure ("I can't bear it"), or to give birth to (bear fruit)

7. boy: a male adolescent or child; an exclamation "oh boy"

buoy: (noun) a floating marker in the sea; (verb, often "buoy up") to keep afloat, to sustain or 

encourage (the soldiers were buoyed up by letters from home) (pronounced boy in the UK, 

but in the US is either homophonous with "boy" or pronounced with two syllables to rhyme 

with "chewy")

bhoy: a house servant for families in India (borrowed from the English word "boy")

8. bow: (rhymes with 'cow'): The front section of a ship or boat; a gesture made by bending 

forward at the waist

bough: (rhymes with 'cow') A tree branch, especially a large or main branch.

bow: (rhymes with 'go'): A weapon made of a curved stick whose ends are connected by a 

string, used for shooting arrows; a type of knot with two loops

9. brake the practise of stopping, halting or slowing down.

break a short rest or the method of snapping, splitting or damaging something through the use 

of force.

10. bridal: pertaining to a bride (bridal gown, bridal suite)

bridle: (noun) part of a horse's tack around its neck and head; (verb) to appear offended or 

proud

11. capital: punishable by death (capital crime); upper-case letter; the principal town or city (Paris 

is the capital of France); wealth, money (capital gains tax), as an exclamation: "excellent"

Capitol: the home of the Congress of the United States and some other legislatures

12. carry: to move while supporting

Carrie: a woman's name, pet form of Caroline, French feminine form of Carolus, Charles, 

from the Germanic name Karl, which was derived from a Germanic word which meant 

"man". Also, name of first published Stephen King novel.

Topic 1 Functional English Lecturer: Qasim Raja

Kerry: a surname, from the name of the Irish county County Kerry, which means "Ciar's 

people" in Irish.

13. caught: past tense of "catch"

cot: a small, collapsible bed. Predominantly in North America, see cot-caught merger.

14. choir: a choral singing group

quire: sometimes a variant spelling of "choir", but more commonly a term for a quantity of 

sheets of paper, or a part of a church housing the altar and, frequently, the choir stalls

15. chord: group of musical notes; anything that can be "struck" (It struck a sensitive chord)

cord: rope; long electrical line; vertebral column

cored: having the inside cut out, like an apple

cawed: past tense of "to caw" - to make a raucous noise

16. choux (pronounced as shoe): plural of chou, as used in choux pastry

shoe: footwear

shoo: exclamation used for scaring things away

17. content: noun. something contained in a package

content: noun. or adj. satisfied, happy

18. compliment: a praising or flattering remark given to someone; to give such a remark

complement: something that completes something else; to complete (something)

19. cue: a rod or stick used to play the game billiards or pool

queue: a line of people waiting

20. descent: a downwards path

dissent: disagreement

21. discreet: means tactful or diplomatic

discrete: means separate or distinct

22. do: conduct or carry out something

do (to rhyme with doe) / doh: the first note of the solfege scale

doe: a female deer; also female of various other species (by extension)

d'oh!: an annoyed grunt

dough: a moistened mass of flour used to make bread; slang term for money

23. dyeing: artificially coloring

dying: passing away

24. effect: ramification: cause and effect; sound effect (as a noun); bring about (effect change) (as 

a verb)

affect: have an effect on; pretentiously display (affect a British accent); emotion (in 

psychology and psychiatry).

25. elicit: to call forth, draw out, or provoke (a reaction, for example)

illicit: not sanctioned by custom or law; unlawful

26. ensure: to make certain, to guarantee

insure: to purchase financial protection, as in an insurance policy.

assure: to assuage the concern of another person.

27. fa / fah: the fourth note of the solfege scale

far: distant (In non-rhotic dialects, these are homonyms.)

28. fairy: imaginary small person with special powers (often homophonous with "ferry" in the 

US)

ferry: boat for carrying people or vehicles short distances on water

29. faze: to temporarily stop or shock (It didn't even faze them)

phase: a stage through which one goes

30. flaw: defect (homonymous with floor in non-rhotic dialects)

floor: a level; lower surface of a room; the area of a legilsative building members speak from, 

so "to take/hold the floor"; to knock to the ground; to confound someone

flor: a yeasty growth that forms on sherry after fermentation.

31. formerly: in the past

formally: in a formal way

(These are not homonyms to most speakers of English, but are homonyms in some non-rhotic 

dialects, including "Received Pronunciation".)

32. gnaw: to bite or chew on persistently

nor: negates the last member of a series of negated items

33. gorilla: the largest of the great apes.

guerrilla: a small combat group.

34. hair: an outgrowth of the epidermis in mammals (e.g. human facial hair); similar structures on 

plants

hare: (noun) a swift, long-eared mammal which, along with rabbits, forms the family 

Leporidae; (verb) to dash or sprint ("I hared around the kitchen")

Herr: the title meaning "Mr." for a man from Germany or Austria

35. hay: grass cut and dried for animal feed

hay: the choke of an artichoke

hey: an exclamation used to draw attention, "Hey! Over here!"; a greeting

hey or hay: a weaving figure in English country dance, morris dance and contra dance

heigh: in the phrase "heigh-ho" expressing weariness or disappointment

36. heir: one who inherits

air: the mixture of gases present in a planet's atmosphere

37. here: this place (opposed to there)

hear: sense with the ears; also in the phrase "Hear! Hear!" for strong agreement

38. high: opposite of low; elevated, far above the ground; under the influence of drugs

hi: a greeting; shortened from "high" as part of hi-fi or el-hi

hie: to speed or hurry somewhere, "hie thee to France"

hi or heigh: part of the phrase "hi-ho" in the song "Hi Ho Silver Lining", or "heigh-ho" in the 

movie lyric "heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go"

jai: as in jai alai

39. hoard: to accumulate and store up as much of something as one can

horde: large group of warriors, mob

hoared: old, mouldy, fusty

whored: past tense of "to whore" - to act as a prostitute

hawed: past tense of haw - equivocate

40. imminent: soon to occur

immanent: existing only in the mind, or acting in the material world

(Some speakers (perhaps 10%) of USA-English also pronounce eminent like these two.)

41. its: belonging to it (analogous to my, your, his, her, our, their)

it's: contraction for "it is" (analogous to I'm, you're, he's, she's, we're, they're) or "it has" 

(analogous to I've, you've, he's, she's, we've, they've)

42. key: instrument used to open locks; a guide to symbols, especially on maps; the essential 

element "the key to his success"; a range of musical notes "try it in a lower key"; a button or 

lever on piano or computer keyboards

key: a low island or sandbank, the Florida Keys

quay: pronounced as key in the UK, as key, kay or kway in the US; a wharf, a structure built 

out into water for the ease of loading and unloading vessels

cay: a West Indian word for an island, as in the novel The Cay

ki: another name for the Hawaiian plant ti

43. lam: US slang: "on the lam" means "on the run"

lamb: a young sheep

44. lama: priest (for example the Dalai Lama)

llama: camelid mammal

45. law: legal rule

lore: old story often not written down

la: the sixth note of the solfege scale

46. lead: pronounced to rhyme with "seed", to guide or serve as the head of

lead: pronounced to rhyme with "head", a heavy metal

led: the past tense of "lead"

leed: a copper kettle; a cauldron

47. leek: a vegetable of the onion family which is the national emblem of Wales

leak: a hole which allows a gas or liquid to escape; confidential information sent to journalists

to expose some issue (the leak came from within the White House itself); slang for urination

Leek: places in England and the Netherlands

48. lock: a mechanical device for securing doors or canals; also the act of using such a device 

(verb); a tuft of human hair

Lok: alternative name for Loki, the Norse god of mischief

Locke: the surname of early liberal philosopher John Locke

49. mail: items sent through the postal service; armor

male: opposite of female

50. mantle (disambiguation): one of the layers of the Earth; a cloak (by metaphorical extension, 

special position or role held)

mantel: over the fireplace

51. marry: to wed

merry: happy

Mary: a woman's name, from Maria, probably a variation of the Hebrew name Miriam, 

meaning "sea of bitterness"

52. medal: an award to be strung around the neck

meddle: stick one's nose into others' affairs

metal: shiny, malleable element or alloy like silver, gold, iron, zinc, tin, copper, bronze or 

brass

mettle: toughness, guts

Note that the first two of these are only homonyms of the second two in North American 

English.

53. me: personal pronoun

me: a concept in Sumerian mythology

me / mi: the third note of the solfege scale

54. morning: the time between midnight and midday

mourning: period of grieving after the death of a relative, friend or public figure, clothing 

worn at this time (e.g. mourning dove)

55. muscle: one of the parts of the body used to move

mussel: a bivalve popular as seafood

56. past: time before now (past, present and future); beyond; after the hour (three past nine = 

9:03); former (in her past life)

passed: past tense of "to pass"

57. parse: to break down into component parts (e.g. for analysis)

pars: the acts of scoring a par in golf; also plural of "par"

parrs: plural of "parr" - a young salmonid fish

58. piece: portion

peace: opposite of war; quietness (peace of mind) or silence (speak now or forever keep your 

peace)

59. pi: the ratio of the diameter and circumfrance of a circle (also the 16th letter in the greek 

alphabet)

pie: a baked food having a filling of fruit, meat, pudding, etc., prepared in a pastry-lined pan 

or dish and often topped with a pastry crust

60. peak: tip, height, to reach its highest point, a mountain

peke: a breed of dog

peek: to take a brief look, usually through a thin aperture (sneak peek)

pique: fit of anger; to incite (pique one's interest)

61. paw: a mammal's foot

poor: impoverished; also, to be pitied (Poor Peter!), also bad (poor quality)

pore: a hole in the skin; to go over with great focus (pore over)

pour: to run out (said of liquid); to rain heavily

par: common level; equality

62. principal: can be a noun or an adjective, a person of primary importance

principle: a noun: it cannot be an adjective, a fundamental rule or law

63. rack: a long, open container with a rectangular frame (spice rack); one's upper body; to torture 

(verb) or an instrument of torture (noun)

wrack: to destroy, a shipwreck, commonly found in the phrase "to go to wrack and ruin"

Note: In British English, only the first spelling should be used in the phrase "to rack one's 

brains"; in American English the second spelling is also acceptable in this context; the 

meaning of "rack" in this phrase is related to the rack as an instrument of torture

64. rain: water falling from the sky

reign: to rule; hold the position as monarch

rein: the strip used to control a horse; anything that restrains; to restrain anything by pulling in 

its irrational exuberance (pull the reins in on)

Rayne: a city in Louisiana

65. raise: to increase

raze: to destroy, to obliterate: "the town was razed to the ground by the fire"

rays: beams of light or energy (sun's rays, X-rays, gamma rays, etc.); cartilaginous fishes

Reyes: as in Point Reyes

66. ray: a beam of light

ray: a type of fish

ray / re: the second note of the solfege scale

Re / Ra(h): an Egyptian god.

rah: a short form of "hurrah"

67. reek: to stink

wreak: to bring about (wreak havoc)

reak: a rush (plant), or a prank

68. rest: sit down without doing anything active; the remainder

wrest: to struggle to extricate something (wrest it out of his hands)

69. retch: to vomit

wretch: a person in a miserable condition; a person of bad character

70. right: the direction opposite to left; correct; something a person must have his/her choice to do 

respected (the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness); straight or directly (went 

right to his heart)

write: to put down in letters; send a letter to (Write me soon!)

rite: ritual, ceremony (rites of passage)

wright: connected with other words to mean someone who constructs (playwright, 

scenewright, wheelwright)

71. ring: piece of jewelry; make a sound like a bell or telephone, or tinnitus in the ears; anything 

shaped like a circle or torus (like the rings in a bathtub); sound familiarly like (that rings of 

fascism)

wring: strangle (wring his neck), squeeze and twist (wring the water out of laundry)

72. root: part of a plant, usually beneath the ground

route: path of travel, Standard English pronunciation

73. rout: chaotic or disorderly retreat

route: path of travel, American English pronunciation

74. row (rhymes with "go"): to pull a boat through the water with oars

row (rhymes with "cow"): a fuss or a fight

roe: fish eggs (such as caviar); a deer (the roebuck)

Roe: pseudonym used in court cases for women having or seeking abortions (most famously 

in Roe v. Wade)

rho: letter of the Greek alphabet equivalent to R

Ro: a constructed language based on categorization

75. seem: appear to

seam: a join; a line of stitches that holds two pieces together

76. shear: trim, remove; strain

sheer: absolute, very steep; swerve

77. sight: vision

site: place, grounds; place in cyberspace

cite: quote or make a reference to; write a ticket

78. so: likewise; therefore; to such a degree

so or soh: the fifth note of the solfege scale

sow (pronounced as so): to scatter seeds

sew (pronounced as so): join together or stitch

sew (pronounced as sue): to drain (as the root of sewage)

Sioux (pronounced as sue): Native American tribe

sou (pronounced as sue): a French five-centime coin; any small amount of money

sous (pronounced as sue): French for "under", often used as a prefix such as in sous-chef - a 

sub-chef

sue: to prosecute or petition for

xu (pronounced as sue): a Vietnamese monetary unit, 1/100 of a dong

sow (to rhyme with cow): a female pig

79. some: a few

sum: what you get when you add numbers; short for summarize (sum up)

80. soul: spirit; mellow African-American music style

sole: single and only; the surface of the bottom of the foot; flat fish like flounder, petrale or 

halibut

Seoul: the capital of South Korea

Sol: the solar system we live in

81. stake a wooden implement used in woodcraft or the in popular culture, the abolition of a 

vampire.

steak a large chunk of meat commonly eaten across Britain.

82. stationery: office supplies

stationary: as not mobile

83. tail: appendage of most mammals

tale: a story

84. tea: a tree and the drink produced from its leaves

tee: a support for the ball in golf

ti / te: the seventh note of the solfege scale

ti: a Polynesian tree similar to the taro

see also the disambiguation page TI

85. tear (rhymes with fear): a drop of fluid which falls from the eyes when weeping or crying

tear (rhymes with fare): rip; to run extremely fast, jolt, bolt, dart

tare: dry measure of grains; payment in wheat; adjustment to a weighing device

tier: layer or level

86. their: belonging to them

there: that place (opposed to here); denotes existence of something

they're: contraction for "they are"

87. theirs: belonging to them

there's: contraction for "there is" or "there has"

88. therefore: thus, ergo (I think therefore I am)

therefor: for the aforementioned thing or purpose; for that (similar to thereof, thereby, 

therefrom, thereagainst, etc.)

89. to: towards or headed for; in order to; used before the infinitive of verbs

too: also; excessively

two: the number 2

tui: the parson bird

tout: French word meaning "all", as in mange-tout

90. vary: make a change in; undergo change

very: adverbial intensifier

91. waste: to use up for something pointless; sewage (toxic waste)

waist: the line that goes across the middle of your body

92. weather: the meteorological conditions; to survive some wear and tear

whether: if something is so or not

wether: a male sheep (The bellwether was the ram who led the herd, and carried a bell around 

his neck to signal the front of the herd coming.)

93. wet: to dampen; damp

whet: to sharpen (a knife, one's appetite)

94. which: similar to 'what', as in "which one?"

witch: one who practices witchcraft; green lady dressed in black who rides a broomstick

95. while: during a period of time

wile: deceitful cunning

96. whore: a prostitute

horror: intense fear

hoar: white with age

97. whose: belonging to whom

who's: contraction for "who is" or "who has"

hoos: plural of hoo, a small hill or promontory (as in Sutton Hoo)

98. yolk: the yellow part of an egg

yoke: wooden fastener on working animals such as oxen or horses

99. your: belonging to you (analogous to my, his, her, its, our, their)

you're: contraction for "you are" (analogous to I'm, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're)

yore: time long ago, a bygone age ("the days of yore")

yaw: swerve (usually of a ship or a spacecraft)

Introduction to Synonyms and Antonyms

Synonyms

A synonym is a word or expression that has the same or almost the same meaning as another.

Synonym examples:

• awful / terrible

• big / large

• smart / clever

• photograph / picture

Word origin: Greek, syn = same, onyma = a name

Short list of synonyms in English, listed by the part of speech

Nouns

• belly / stomach

• children / kids

• disaster / catastrophe

• earth / soil

• father / dad

• happiness / joy

• instinct / intuition

• mother / mom

• present / gift

• sunrise / dawn

Verbs

• answer / reply

• beat / defeat

• behave / act

• begin / start

• close / shut

• leave / exit

• provide / supply

• select / choose

• shout / yell

• speak / talk

Adjectives

• big / large

• complete / total

• correct / right

• crazy / mad

• foolish / silly

• happy / glad

• hard / difficult

• ill / sick

• last / final

• near / close

• sad / unhappy

• stable / steady

Adverbs

• abroad / overseas

• almost / nearly

• badly / poorly

• fast / quickly

• intentionally / on purpose

• out / outside

• rarely / seldom

• sometimes / occasionally

• surely / for sure

• very / highly / extremely

Prepositions

• above / over

• about / regarding / concerning

• against / versus

• below / beneath / under

• by / via

• despite / in spite of

• in / into

• off / away

• until / till

• with / including

Synonyms are not necessarily the same!

You see, they can be very similar, but they do not necessarily mean the same.

Here is a common example.

the following words are all synonyms. Their general meaning is "pleasant to look at."

There are however important nuances.

Look at the illustrations, read the definitions and see for yourself.

Pretty, beautiful, handsome... What's the difference?

Pretty Beautiful Handsome

Pretty =

delicate and 

pleasant to look at.

Beautiful =

(of a woman or 

girl)extremely pleasant to 

look at.

Handsome =

(of a man)

pleasant to look at.

Antonyms

An antonym is a word that means the opposite of another word.

Antonym examples:

• old / new

• black / white

• strong / weak

• break / fix

Word origin: Greek, anti = opposite, onym = name

Short list of antonyms in English, listed by the part of speech

Nouns

• day / night

• east / west

• enemy / friend

• failure / success 

• guest / host

• health / disease

• question / answer

• speaker / listener

• summer / winter

• top / bottom

Verbs

• agree / disagree

• arrive / leave

• begin / end

• fall asleep / wake up

• find / lose

• lend / borrow

• love / hate

• open / close

• remember / forget

• start / stop

Adjectives

• asleep / awake

• beautiful / ugly

• big / small

• black / white

• cheap / expensive

• dead / alive

• dry / wet

• easy / difficult

• full / empty

• good / bad

• hot / cold

• intelligent / stupid

• sad / happy

• sick / healthy

• thin / fat

Adverbs

• always / never

• angrily / happily

• fast / slowly

• here / there

• inside / outside

• likely / unlikely

• near / far

• partly / fully

• seemingly / actually

• yesterday / tomorrow

Prepositions

• above / below

• against / for

• before / after

Topic 1 Functional English Lecturer: Qasim Raja

• in / out

• like / unlike

• on / off

• plus / minus

• to / from

• towards / away

• with / without