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homonymy
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Homonymy
Aspect of language in which, through historical accident, two or more words may sound and look alike (homonymy proper, as in a farmer's bull and a papal bull). Other types of homonymy are homophony, (as in air and heir; gilt and guilt), which may sound the same but look different, and homography (as in the wind in the trees and roads that wind) which may look the same but sound different.
Homonyms, homophones, and homographs seldom pose problems of comprehension, because they usually belong in different contexts. Even when brought into the same context for effect (‘The heir to the throne had an air of self-satisfaction’), they are entirely clear. They may, however, be used to make puns (for example, ‘a papal bull in a china shop’).
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compound word
consonant
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embedding
etymology
figurative language
generic structure
grapheme
homograph
homonym
homonymy
homophone
letter string
logogram
metalanguage
morpheme
onset
palindrome
pathos
phoneme
phonology
portmanteau word
reference
root (language)
segment
stem (grammar)
suffix
syllable
trigraph
vowel
blend
compound word
consonant
derivation
digraph
embedding
etymology
figurative language
generic structure
grapheme
homograph
homonym
homonymy
homophone
letter string
logogram
metalanguage
morpheme
onset
palindrome
pathos
phoneme
phonology
portmanteau word
reference
root (language)
segment
stem (grammar)
suffix
syllable
trigraph
vowel
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