Homonymous

Homonymous is an adjective used in linguistics to describe words or names that share the same form but refer to different meanings or referents. The term comes from Greek homo- meaning “same” and onoma meaning “name.” In broad usage, a homonym is a single form that maps to two or more distinct meanings.

In strict linguistic terms, homonymy occurs when two lexemes are identical in spelling and pronunciation but have unrelated etymologies and senses. They are etymologically distinct yet converge in form. This is distinct from polysemy, where related senses arise from a common source and retain a semantic link.

Related categories include homographs and homophones. Homographs have the same spelling and may have different pronunciations and meanings. Homophones share pronunciation but have different spellings and meanings. Some words can fit multiple labels, and in common usage the term homonym is sometimes used loosely to cover any form-meaning ambiguity that arises from shared form.

Examples illustrating homonymy include bank (a financial institution) and bank (the side of a river), which are spelled and pronounced the same but refer to different concepts. Night and knight are homophones: they sound alike but differ in spelling and meaning. Wind, pronounced differently in wind (to coil) versus wind (air movement), shows how identical spelling can yield different pronunciations and senses.