Homographs: Words That Are Spelled the Same but Sound Different

One of our listeners named Gregg wrote in recently with a question. He wanted to know if there’s a term for words that change their definition when their syllable emphasis changes. 

He mentioned the word “invalid” as an example. According to Merriam-Webster, the word means “being without foundation in fact or truth” when you stress the second syllable (as in, in-VAL-id), but it means “one that is sickly or disabled” when you stress the first syllable (as in, IN-val-id).

Good question, Gregg! There is a term for words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. They’re called “homographs.” The “homo” root means “same,” and the “graph” root means “write.” 

And as Gregg pointed out, some homographs are pronounced differently, like “wind” (the movement of air) and “wind” (to coil something like a string around another object). Others are pronounced the same, like “odd” (meaning strange) and “odd” (meaning a number that can’t be divided evenly by two). 

Wouldn’t it be easier for everyone if we just had separate words for totally separate concepts? Here’s why we don’t.

Some Homographs Have Different Etymologies

Some homographs have different etymologies. For example, the verb “match” comes from an Old English word that means “equal” or “mate,” whereas the noun “match” comes from a Greek word that meant “lamp wick”: “myxa.” (And the word “myxa,” in turn, was originally “mucus, based on [the] notion of [a] wick dangling from the spout of a lamp like snot from a nostril.” I bet you never thought that word etymology could be so disgusting!) 

Another example is the word “compact.” The noun “compact” (meaning an agreement) comes from the Latin verb “compacisci,” meaning to covenant together. The past tense of this verb was “compactum.” In contrast, the verb “to compact” (meaning to press tightly together) comes from the Latin verb “compingĕre,” which had the same meaning. And the past tense of that verb was “compactus.”

Even some words that seem similar in meaning can have different origins. For example, think of the noun “bow,” as in a bow and arrow, and the verb “bow,” meaning to bend over. Both of these words suggest objects that have a curved shape. But the noun “bow” comes from the Old English word “boga,” referring to an archery bow...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips