Heteronyms

In Square in the Face, Claire is introduced to heteronyms—words that are spelled the same, pronounced differently and have different meanings. Here are some of her favorites.

Know a heteronym that's not on the list? E-mail it to[email protected].


A
address, affect, agape, aged, agent, alum, appropriate, august

B
bases, bass, bow, buffet
C
close, collect, combine, commune, compact, compress, console, construct, content, contract, cure

D
defect, denier, desert, does, dove, drawer

E
empire, envelope, entrance, exploit, expose

G
gyro

H
he'll, herb

I
incense, initiate, intimate, invalid

J
job, justice

L
lame, lead, live, local

M
man's laughter, mate, minute, mole, mores, mow

N
notice, novice, nowhere, number

O
object, opera

P
polish, prayer, present, primer, preserved, process, progress, produce, project, putter, putting

R
rainier, ranger, rape, read, real, rebel, record, recreate, refuse, relay, resent, resigns, resort, resume, retire, retreat, rose, row

S
sake, sewer, secretey, she'll, shin, shower, singer, slaver, slough, sol, sow, subject, supply

T
tarry, tear, tower

U
uh huh

W
weeknight, we'll, who're, wind, won't, wound