draw a peace a picture or home phones homographs and in a sentence

Put quite simply, a homograph is a group (usually a pair) of words that are spelled the same way, and may or may not be pronounced the same way, although the difference in pronunciation is often just a shift in the accented syllable.

There is a whole class of homographs that end in -ate, usually with one being a verb and the other being a noun or an adjective related to it. For example:

"Advocate" can be pronounced with a long "a" sound and mean “to speak or write in support of”

"Advocate" can also be pronounced with a short "a" sound and refer to a person who supports or pleads the cause of another.

Common Homographs

Now that you know what they are, here are 40 examples of homographs:

accent - stress or emphasis/a manner of speaking or pronunciation influenced by the region in which one lives or grew up

agape - wide open/a Greek word meaning “love”

attribute - a characteristic or quality/to think of as belonging to or originating in some person, place or thing

axes - the plural of ax or axe/the plural of axis

bass - a deep voice or tone/a kind of fish

bat - a piece of sporting equipment used in baseball/a winged animal associated with vampires

bow - to bend at the waist/the front of a boat/a pair of tied loops

buffet - to hit, punch or slap/a self-serve food bar

bustier - an undergarment/more busty

compact - small/to make small/a small case for holding makeup

compound - to mix or combine/an enclosed area with a building or group of buildings inside

content - happy or satisfied/all that is contained inside something

contract - an agreement/to get, acquire or incur

coordinates - brings into proper place or order/a set of numbers used to calculate position

desert - a hot, arid region/to leave

digest - a condensed version of some information/to change food in the stomach into a form that can be absorbed by the body

discount - a reduction in price/to underestimate the significance of or give no credence to

does - female deer (plural)/present, third person singular form of the verb “do”

down - in a lower position/soft, furry feathers

entrance - the place of entry/to bewitch, delight or enrapture

evening - late afternoon/making more even

fine - very good/sharp or keen/delicate or subtle/a sum of money paid to settle a matter

frequent - occurring regularly/to visit a place with regularity

incense - a substance that produces a pleasant odor when burned/to infuriate or make very angry

lead - to go first with followers behind/a type of metal

minute - 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour/extremely small

moped - acted sad or gloomy/a bicycle with a motor

object - a thing you can see or touch/a goal/a noun that receives the action of a verb/to be opposed to

proceeds - advances or continues on/the money or profit gained from some sale or venture

produce - to create or make/fresh fruits and vegetables

project - a plan or proposal/to throw or hurl forward/to cause a shadow or image to fall upon a surface

putting - the present participle of put/the present participle of putt

number - a numeral/to count/more numb

refuse - waste or garbage/to reject or decline to accept

row - a fight/to propel a boat forward using oars/a line

second - 1/60th of a minute/after the first

subject - under some authority or control/to bring under authority or control/to make liable or vulnerable/a topic/the noun in a sentence about which something is said in the predicate

tear - to rip/a drop of water from the eye

wind - to turn/moving air

wound - turned/an injury

This is just a small sample of all the homographs that exist. There are hundreds more just in English, not to mention the homographs that exist in other languages and the ones that exist between languages.

Homographs, Homophones and Homonyms

It’s easy to confuse homographs with homophones and homonyms, but if you think about each word, they make more sense.

Homo-, as you know, means “same,” so the end of each word tells us what is the same.

Homograph - “Graph” has to do with writing or drawing. When you think about a graph, you envision a picture. If you read graphic novels, you know they have pictures. Someone drew them. So “homograph” means “same picture” or “same writing.” Homographs are written (spelled) the same. (To make matters more confusing, homographs that are spelled the same but sound different are also called heteronyms.)

Homophone - “Phone” has to do with sound. When you talk on the telephone, you hear the other person’s voice. When people in the 1800s used a gramophone, they were listening to music. And phonology is the study of a language’s sounds. So “homophone” means “same sound.” Homophones are pronounced the same.