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1 words, 2 meanings 1 spelling

14 replies

BabyStone · 20/05/2013 10:29

Can any one tell me what it is called when there is one word, with two different meanings when said differently?
E.g Reading- this can be "I like reading books" or "I live in Reading"
Live- "I live..." or "I saw that band live"

Do you have any examples? or maybe when you have misread something and sounded stupid!?

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HeathRobinson · 20/05/2013 10:30

lead

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HeathRobinson · 20/05/2013 10:31

And it's called a homograph, apparently.

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noisytoys · 20/05/2013 10:32

Mobile as in mobile phone or space mobile that aliens ride in

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toomuch2young · 20/05/2013 10:32

Polish/ polish

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BabyStone · 20/05/2013 10:41

thanks heathrobinson

I once said whilst on a train "not long to go we're in Reading" pronounced like "reeding" my friends just laughed at me :(

I remember learning about words that are pronounced the same but spelt/spelled different with different meanings, such as; pear/pair, to/too/two/, for/four etc. I don't remember the term for it, pretty sure we didn't learn about homographs!

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Seeline · 20/05/2013 10:48

sound the same/spelt dfferently are homophones I think.

other spelt the same/pronounced differently
tear (rip)/tear (cry)
minute (small)/minute (time)
present (here or gift)/present (award)

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HeathRobinson · 20/05/2013 10:52

homonym/homophone/homograph

Don't worry about getting stuff wrong, you can't be expected to know everything. Smile

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Yettish · 20/05/2013 10:53

moped.

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Yettish · 20/05/2013 10:54

close

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Yettish · 20/05/2013 10:55

You think that's bad OP - imagine representing the University of Reading at international conferences and having to explain that yes, we also do writing and adding up. Hmm

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BabyStone · 20/05/2013 11:05

yetish isn't it mopped? when you clean the floor and moped is what you ride?

but I actually laughed out loud at the writing and adding up

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to words!

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MoaningMingeWhingesAgain · 20/05/2013 11:09

Ride a moped yes, or she moped around all depressed.

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titchy · 20/05/2013 11:10

Baby - you ride a moped but your kid moped around the lounge.

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BabyStone · 20/05/2013 11:12

ohhh yeah! doh!

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