Heteronyms - Same Spelling, Different Pronunciation, Different Meaning - Business English Success

Heteronyms are pairs of words that have the same spelling but different pronunciation and meaning.

This video looks at heteronyms, which are words that are spelt the same but pronounced differently, and have a different meaning.

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Noun or Verb?

There are many topics in English where you learn a rule and then you learn the many exceptions to that rule. This can be frustrating for learners.

Here is some good news, as this is one topic where the rule holds, without a huge exceptions list.

Here’s the rule: if the stress is on the first syllable, it’s a noun and if it’s on the second syllable, it’s a verb.

Some examples:

to record a record
to present a present
to rebel like a rebel

Upper Case or Lower Case?

One group of heteronyms are when one word is capitalised and the other is all lower case.

Some purists might argue that these are not true heteronyms, as the spelling is not exactly the same.

Reading, the town in England – reading, as in a book
Seat, the car manufacturer – seat, something to sit on
Nice, a French town – nice, as in pleasant

Other Heteronyms

In addition to the noun or verb examples above, there are many other words where the different meanings are totally unrelated.

Some examples will show you what I mean:

sow, a female pig – sow, seeds in the ground
sewer, someone who sews – sewer, where the waste goes
bass, a fish – bass, a guitar
wound, an injury – wound, past form of wind
wind, to wrap around – wind, good for flying a kite
dove, a bird – dove, past form of dive

False Heteronyms

There are words that have different meanings, based on context.

However, a true heteronym has to actually sound different: that’s the ‘hetero’ part of the word. The correct term for this is homonym.

Here are a few examples:

dust – verb (to clean) and noun (the dirt)
dry – verb (to remove water) and adjective (meaning not wet, or not sweet)
face – noun (front of your head) and verb (to deal with)

A Silly Example

In England, and probably other countries as well, you will often see a “Polish Shop”, which is a shop full of items and foods from Poland. Polish immigrants as well as fans of this fine culture and delicious cuisine shop there.

I’m always tempted to go in and ask if they have something to bring out the grain and shine up a teak table.

So far, I’ve been able to resist this childish urge, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Do you have any questions to do with heteronyms? Please ask in the comments below.

There are more examples in the blog post, so head on over and have a look for more examples.
Feel free to look around the site, there are lots of learning resources for the English language learner.

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About this video:
In this English learning video, Derek Smith from ESFORAY GmbH and Business English Success looks at heteronyms, what they are and how to use them.

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Credits:
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[BusinessEnglishSuccess]

Please use this space to ask your heteronym questions.

[DanteofGagamor]

I like the background music, combined with your British accent it makes me think of medieval times! How long have you been a translator? That's also a cool rule if the first syllable is stressed = noun, second = verb. I like the editing, it has clear visuals.

[rileycolemanshorts]

"You learn a rule then there are a massive list of exceptions to the rule." This is so frustrating about English and its my first language.