homonymy

American  

[huh-mon-uh-mee, hoh-] / həˈmɒn ə mi, hoʊ- /

noun

1. the relationship between homonyms, or words that are spelled or pronounced in the same way.

   homonymy in English.

2. the state of having the same name or designation.

   Homonymy between species can cause major confusion in taxonomy.

---

Usage

What does homonymy mean? Homonymy is the relationship between words that are homonyms—words that have different meanings but are pronounced the same or spelled the same or both.It can also refer to the state of being homonyms.The word homonym can be used as a synonym for both homophone and homograph. It can also be used to refer to words that are both homophones and homographs.Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, whether they’re spelled the same or not. There, their, and they’re are homophones. But so are bark (the sound a dog makes) and bark (the covering of a tree).Homographs are words that have the same spelling but different meanings, whether they’re pronounced the same or not. Bass (the fish, rhymes with class) and bass (the instrument, rhymes with ace) are homographs. But so are bark (the sound a dog makes) and bark (the covering of a tree).As you can see, the two senses of bark can be considered both homographs and homophones. The word homonym can also be used to refer to such words—meaning they have both the same spelling and the same pronunciation, but different meanings.The related adjective homonymous describes words that are homonyms.Example: Homonymy between words that are spelled the same is often more obvious than homonymy between words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently.

Etymology

Origin of homonymy

First recorded in 1545–55; < Late Latin homōnymia, from Greek homōnymía, equivalent to homṓnym(os) homonymous + -ia -y ³

Example Sentences

This striking fact may be interpreted as a positive proof that the spider-symbol, employed by the Mexicans, must have originated in Yucatan, from the mere homonymy of two Maya words.

From Project Gutenberg

Again, many myths spring from homonymy, that is, the sameness in sound of words with difference in signification.

From Project Gutenberg

I will give two examples of the homonymy.

From Project Gutenberg

And, by a strange chance of homonymy, his title remained unchanged despite his change of estate.

From Project Gutenberg

Here we have a confusion of two essentially different things through the homonymy in the word honour, and a consequent alteration of the point in dispute.

From Project Gutenberg