ABSTRACT
Homonym comes from Greek homo (same)+onyma (name) and refers to words which have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings:
post 1 piece of timber 2 affix to a wall (post a placard) 3 send a letter 4 place where soldier is stationed 5 after (post-war)
Words which have the same spelling but which differ in meaning, origin and possibly also in pronunciation are called homographs (i.e. written the same way):
bear 1 animal 2 endure
Words that are pronounced the same way but which have different meanings, spellings or origins are called homophones (i.e. same sounds):
pail pale pair pare
Words may be homophones in some regions but not in others. In Southern British English, for example, the following are homophones:
paw poor pour
as are:
Mary marry merry
in some speech communities in the USA. See: antonym, synonym.
