skirch Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Rod and Staff says homonyms "are words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently. They have different meaning." For example: Like dear and deer, ant and aunt, hair and hare. I think that's how I learned it too but now I'm so confused I don't know anymore. EVERYTHING else I see on the internet says a homonym "is one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings" and that my examples above would be homophones. Is Rod and Staff wrong? Am I reading it wrong? I thought I knew this stuff but today none of it is making any sense to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Homophones sound the same (homo=same, phone=sound). They may or may not be spelled the same. Homonyms are words that sound the same and are spelled the same (homo=same, nym =name), but have different meanings. All homonyms are homophones, but not all homophones are homonyms, because they may have different spelling. Your examples of dear/deer, ant/aunt would be homophones, but not homonyms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyJo Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Homophone = same sound. They sound the same, but they have different meanings and may have different spellings. Homograph = same spelling. They are spelled the same, but they have different meanings and may have different sounds. Homonyms = homophones and homographs. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homonym Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skirch Posted August 5, 2013 Author Share Posted August 5, 2013 Thank you. That's pretty much what it says everywhere I look except the Rod & Staff books. Book 4 - words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently. Book 5 - words that are pronounced alike but their spellings and meanings are different. Book 6 has the first mention of homophones. Their definition is - words that are pronounced alike but their spellings and meanings are different. Has anyone else run into this with Rod and Staff? We have been using it from the beginning and love it but now I'm worried about wrong information. :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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