What are Heteronyms? - Business English Success

What are Heteronyms? – Introduction

This post answers the question, “What are heteronyms?” and gives some everyday examples.

In a previous post, we looked at some fun English intonation examples, in which the sentence meaning changed, based on which word was emphasised.

Heteronyms are individual words can have different meanings, based on which syllable is emphasised, or how the word is pronounced.

I know that a lot of people prefer their content in video format, so if that’s you, please enjoy this accompanying video. It’s a great way to actually hear the differences that are mentioned in this article

Noun or Verb?

There are many topics in English where you learn a rule and then you learn the many exceptions to that rule. This can be frustrating for learners.

Here is some good news, as this is one topic where the rule holds, without a huge exceptions list.

Here’s the rule: if the stress is on the first syllable, it’s a noun and if it’s on the second syllable, it’s a verb.

Some examples:

to record a record
to present a present
to contest a contest
to rebel like a rebel
to produce produce
to object to an object
to subject the subject to tests
to insult with an insult

There are many more, but this list shows the idea.

Upper Case or Lower Case?

One group of heteronyms are when one word is capitalised and the other is all lower case.

Some purists might argue that these are not true heteronyms, as the spelling is not exactly the same.

Reading, the town in England – reading, as in a book
Seat, the car manufacturer – seat, something to sit on
Job, a biblical character – job, as in employment
August, the month – august, meaning important
Nice, a French town – nice, as in pleasant
Worms, a German town – worms, the plural of worm
Said, an Egyptian town – said, past form of to say

Other Heteronyms

In addition to the noun or verb examples above, there are many other words where the different meanings are totally unrelated.

Some examples will show you what I mean:

sow, a female pig – sow, seeds in the ground
sewer, someone who sews – sewer, where the waste goes
bass, a fish – bass, a guitar
wound, an injury – wound, past form of wind
wind, to wrap around – wind, good for flying a kite
dove, a bird – dove, past form of dive
does, 3rd person singular of to do – does, plural of female deer
minute, very small – minute, 60 seconds

See what I mean about the different meanings?

False Heteronyms

There are words that have different meanings, based on context.

However, a true heteronym has to actually sound different: that’s the ‘hetero’ part of the word. The correct term for this is homonym.

Here are a few examples:

dust – verb (to clean) and noun (the dirt)
dry – verb (to remove water) and adjective (meaning not wet, or not sweet)
face – noun (front of your head) and verb (to deal with)
down – adverb (opposite of up) and verb (to drink quickly)
chair – noun (something to sit on) and verb (to run a meeting)

There are hundreds of these, but I hope that these examples illustrate the point.

A Silly Example

In England, and probably other countries as well, you will often see a “Polish Shop”, which is a shop full of items and foods from Poland. Polish immigrants as well as fans of this fine culture and delicious cuisine shop there.

I’m always tempted to go in and ask if they have something to bring out the grain and shine up a teak table.

So far, I’ve been able to resist this childish urge, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?

What are Heteronyms? – Summary

Heteronyms can make life difficult for the language learner, as it isn’t always clear which version is meant.

If this post makes you curious to know more, check out this Wikipedia page.

If you have any questions or comments, please use the comments section to ask or tell.