Heteronym (linguistics)

A heteronym (also known as a heterophone) is a word that has a different pronunciation and meaning from another word but the same spelling. These are homographs that are not homophones. Thus, lead (the metal) and lead (a leash) are heteronyms, but mean (average) and mean (intend) are not, since they are pronounced the same. Heteronym pronunciation may vary in vowel realisation, in stress pattern, or in other ways. A heteronym is a homograph that is not a homophone, a word that has a different pronunciation and meaning from another word with the same spelling. Heteronym pronunciation may vary in vowel realisation, in stress pattern, or in other ways. "Heterophone" literally just means "different sound", and this term is sometimes applied to words that are just pronounced differently, irrespective of their spelling. Such a definition would include virtually every pair of words in the language, so "heterophone" in this sense is normally restricted to instances where there is some particular reason to highlight the different sound. For example, puns normally involve homophones, but in the case of heterophonic (or imperfect) puns, the two words sound different, and yet similar enough for one to suggest the other (for example, mouth and mouse). Most heteronyms are doubles. Triple heteronyms are extremely rare in English; three examples, sin, mobile and does, are listed below. Proper nouns can sometimes be heteronyms. For example, the final syllable in the US state of Oregon is pronounced -ən (or -ɪn), while in the name of the village of Oregon in Wisconsin, the final syllable is pronounced -ɒn. Other examples include local pronunciations of Cairo, Georgia; Versailles, Kentucky; and Milan, Tennessee—compared to the more well-known Cairo, Versailles, and Milan—or the difference between the pronunciation of Louisville, Kentucky (ˈluːəvəl) and the town of Louisville, New York (ˈluːɪsvɪl). There are also pairs which ignore case and include both initialisms and regular words, e.g., US and us. Heteronyms also occur in non-alphabetic languages.