homonyms

Homonyms are two or more words that have the same sound or spelling but differ in meaning. Adjectives: homonymic and homonymous.

Generally, the term homonym refers both to homophones (words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings, such as pair and pear) and to homographs (words that are spelled the same but have different meanings, such as "bow your head" and "tied in a bow").

 

Three Kinds of Homonyms

"There are three kinds [of homonyms]: those that sound and look alike (bank a slope, bank a place for money, and bank a bench or row of switches); homophones, that sound alike but do not look alike (coarse, course); and homographs, that look alike but do not sound alike (the verb lead, the metal lead). . . . There are over 3,000 homographs in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (8th edition, 1990)." (Tom McArthur, Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992)

Example :

Here are a few examples of homonym pairs provided by Weber State University and Alan Cooper's Homonyms that you will frequently encounter:

• Accept (to receive) and Except (excluding)
• Acts (things done) and Ax (chopping tool)
• Days (more than one day) and Daze (to bewilder)
• Than (a comparison) and then (shows time)
• There (a place) and Their (belongs to them) and They're (they are)

Although included in the above list from Weber State University, several of these words are not technically homonyms. They are spelled the same and have different meanings; but, they don't sound the same if pronounced correctly:

• Accept and except
• Affect and effect
• Than and then
• Elicit and illicit
• Emigrate and immigrate

Here is a rundown example homonyms words that (unconsciously) confuse a content writer.

Accept

Example: He did not accept your leave application.

Except
Example: Everyone in the room except Rita come out.

 Affect
Example: Smoking will affect your health.

Effect
Example: It was the result of the magnetic effect.

Auxiliary
Example: There are no auxiliary branches of this shop.

Axillary
Example: The doctor looked at the axillary gland.

Angle
Example: The angle between perpendicular lines is 90degrees.

Angel
Example: Anny was as innocent as an angel.

Blew
Example: The wind blew from the east

Blue
Example: The color of the sky is blue.

Desert
Example: Sahara is the second largest desert.

Dessert
Example: Strawberry short cake was served to the invitees as the dessert.

Lessen
Example: The medicine will lessen your pain.

Lesson
Example: We must learn some kind of a lesson from our past mistakes.

Reference

http://www.meabhi.com/blog/homonyms/

http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/homonymterm.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/homonymterm.htm