homograph

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. They may also differ in pronunciation. If the same spelling is paired with a different pronunciation and meaning, these words are often called heteronyms, a subset of homographs.

Homographs are distinct from homophones, which share the same pronunciation but have different spellings and meanings. They are also distinct from polysemy, where a single spelling carries multiple related senses. In everyday use, the term homograph is mainly a spelling-based relation, not a measure of semantic relatedness.

Common examples include lead (to guide) versus lead (the metal); wind (to turn or twist) versus wind (moving air); bass (low-frequency sound) versus bass (a type of fish). Another case is read, which is pronounced /riːd/ in the present tense and /rɛd/ in the past tense. These pairs illustrate that identical spelling can mask different pronunciations and meanings.

The term derives from Greek homo- meaning "same" and graph- meaning "writing." In lexicography and language teaching, recognizing homographs helps with pronunciation and meaning disambiguation, especially in written text where context guides interpretation. See also heteronym, homophone, and polysemy for related concepts in word form and meaning.