What is a homonym? Definition and examples
What is a homonym?
Homonyms are words which sound the same but have different meanings. Homonyms can be spelt differently, such as flower and flour, or spelt the same, such as bass (a fish) and bass (an instrument), as long as the meaning is different.
Common types of homonyms
Homophone
Homophones are spelt differently and have different meanings, such as right and write.
Homograph
Homographs are spelt the same but have different meanings, such as bat (the animal) and bat (for baseball).
Homonyms examples
Fly (zipper) and fly (bug)
Address (postal address) and address (to speak)
Tyre and tire
See and sea
Pen (animal enclosure) and pen (for writing)
Homonyms in literature
Private Eye
Spike Milligan's Private Eye features a classic example of a homonym:
Inside, the blinds were drawn, but the furniture was real.
Here, drawn has a dual meaning: it refers to the blinds being open but also hints that they are an image (i.e., they have been drawn with a pen or pencil). Milligan then assures the reader that the furniture is real and is not a drawing.
How to use homonyms in fiction writing
As we saw in the above example from Private Eye, homonyms can be used to create jokes and puns or to parody. For example, we could take the classic Shakespeare quote "To be, or not to be" and utilise homonyms to wonder what it would be like to live your life as a buzzing bee: "To bee, or not to bee?"
This is not exactly grammatically correct because bee isn't a verb but it does create a unique picture in your mind.
Another use of homonyms is to create ambiguity. You can use homonyms to create red herrings for your reader, such as saying the intruder had a bat. Most people would think that the intruder had a baseball bat, but perhaps they had a pet bat with them on this occasion.
Like every literary device, be careful not to overdo it. Your reader will be frustrated if you use a homonym as a red herring more than once, or if it isn't well done! Saying the main character's love interest was shot outside of the church when you mean they were participating in a photo shoot is unlikely to go down well. Homonyms can also cause confusion, especially if you don't realise you are using one.
Keep in mind that the pronunciation of words varies across cultures and countries. What might be a homonym in your region may not be a homonym over in Australia.
Conclusion
Homonyms are words which have different meanings but are pronounced in a similar way. Two common types of homonyms are homophones, which are spelt differently, and homographs, which are spelt the same. Homonyms can be used in creative writing to create puns or parodies, but be careful not to overuse them in your novel.