1. words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings
Usage: linguistics; plural form

Examples

• The teacher explained that ‘bank’ meaning a financial institution and ‘bank’ meaning the side of a river are homonyms.
• Students often confuse homonyms like ‘bark’ from a dog and ‘bark’ from a tree.
• The word ‘fair’ meaning just and ‘fair’ meaning a carnival are perfect examples of homonyms.
• ‘Bat’ the animal and ‘bat’ used in baseball are common homonyms in English.
• Learning about homonyms helps students understand why context is important in reading.
• The dictionary listed several homonyms for the word ‘lead’.