The description of a homonym covers that of both a homograph and a homophone. For example, ‘bear’, ‘tear’ and ‘lead’ are all homographs, but they also satisfy the criteria of a homonym.
Homonyms may be words with identical pronunciations but different spellings and meanings, such as to, too, and two. Or they may be words with both identical pronunciations and identical spellings but different meanings, such as quail (the bird) and quail (to cringe).
The word homonym comes from the Greek ὁμώνυμος (homonymos), meaning "having the same name," [6] compounded from ὁμός (homos) "common, same, similar" [7] and ὄνομα (onoma) "name."
Homonyms in English can be confusing at first—they’re words that look or sound the same but have different meanings. You’ve probably seen them before without even realizing it. In this article, we’ll look at the different types of homonyms, explain how they work, and go through lots of clear examples to help you understand them better.
When homonyms have the same sound, they are called "homophones." When they have the same spelling, they are called "homographs." (Homographs with different sounds (e.g., " tear drop" and "to tear a hole") are called "heteronyms.")
A homonym can be a homophone (same sound) or a homograph (same spelling). Think like homonym as the “parent category,” while homophone and homograph are its “children.”