Great has the lowest intensity or strength.Here are some usage patterns to be aware of: However, there are also differences in their use. For example, any of the words above can be used in sentences like these: All ten words below can be used to mean very good or excellent.

And there are many other words in English that can have the same meaning. The careful writer would do well to follow the strict sense, ensuring his meaning is understood immediately.Superb, outstanding, and terrific are synonyms for very good. With so many notable resources pointing to the contrary, are we losing this strict meaning? What then will we call a word that is spelled and pronounced the same as another but has a different meaning? If homonym retains all these meanings, how will readers know what is actually meant? However, other dictionaries allow that a homonym can be a homograph or a homophone. In the strictest sense, a homonym must be both a homograph and a homophone. So does a homonym have to be both a homograph and a homophone, or can it be just one or the other? As with most things in life, it depends on whom you ask.

Depending on whom you talk to, homonym means either:Ī word that is spelled like another but has a different sound and meaning (homograph) a word that sounds like another but has a different spelling and meaning (homophone)Ī word that is spelled and pronounced like another but has a different meaning (homograph and homophone)

The –phone ending means sound or voice, so a homophone has the same pronunciation. Not so bad, right? The ending –graph means drawn or written, so a homograph has the same spelling. Homophones may or may not have the same spelling. Wind (to follow a course that is not straight)/ wind (a gust of air)īass (low, deep sound)/ bass (a type of fish)Ī homophone is a word that has the same sound as another word but has a different meaning.

A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as another word but has a different sound and a different meaning: This word set can be confusing, even for word geeks.

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