heteronym

het·er·o·nym

H h

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [het-er-uh-nim]
- /ˈhɛt ər ə nɪm/
- /hˈetrənˌɪm/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [het-er-uh-nim]
- /ˈhɛt ər ə nɪm/

Definitions of heteronym word

noun heteronym a word spelled the same as another but having a different sound and meaning, as lead (to conduct) and lead (a metal). 1
noun heteronym Each of two or more words that are spelled identically but have different sounds and meanings, such as tear meaning “ rip ” and tear meaning “ liquid from the eye. ”. 1
noun heteronym one of two or more words pronounced differently but spelt alike 0
noun heteronym a word with the same spelling as another or others, but with different meaning and pronunciation (Ex.: tear, a drop of water from the eye, and tear, to rip) 0
noun heteronym (linguistics) A word having the same spelling as another, but a different pronunciation and meaning. 0
noun heteronym (literature) A fictitious character created by an author for the purpose of writing in a different style. 0

See all 6 definitions of heteronym

Information block about the term

Origin of heteronym

First appearance:

before 1880

One of the 23% newest English words

From the Late Greek word heterṓnymos, dating back to 1880-85. See hetero-, -onym

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Heteronym

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Heteronym

heteronym popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 53% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

According to our data about 56% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.

heteronym usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer