The Homonym/Homophone Page

Which is it, homonyms or homophones? You decide:

Homonym

One of two or more words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning, such as bank (embankment) and bank (place where money is kept).

Homophone

One of two or more words, such as night and knight, that are pronounced the same but differ in meaning, origin, and sometimes spelling.

Source: Dictionary.com

Criteria for My List

• Standard modern American English pronunciation (checked against Meriam-Webster Online).
• Must be different spellings.
• Must mean different things (i.e., cannot be two different spellings with the same definition).
• No directly foreign words that would not be found in an English dictionary and are not used in English conversation.
• No proper nouns.

About Me

I am not an English teacher nor a professional linguist. I started this list a long, long time ago for personal reasons, and it's kind of grown from there. If you want to contact me to ask a question or suggest a grouping, be my guest. But I cannot provide expert answers to questions outside my expertise. This list is for recreational purposes only, and should not be considered a comprehensive list of homonyms or homophones of the English language. Thank you.

The List