Words that have more than one meaning

[Icy Gull]

but are either spelt or pronounced almost the same

Wound as in if you were stabbed

Wound as in wound up

Wander/wonder

Are there many more?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Seagulls/Sieg Heil

Easy mistake to make - if you're a Sun reporter at Millwall

 

[Vatican Citys No.2 Keeper]

Gay as in Happy
Gay is an :safeway :safeway2:

 

[m20gull]

Rattel - the (much-loved and SEIOUSLY under-rated) honey badger.
Rattle - completely vanished toy of supporters with scarf, bobble-hat and thermos.

 

[Icy Gull]

Passed
Past

Fast as in quick
Fast as in starve yourself

 

[Gully]

Sick, in my books it means vomit or something in bad taste, to the yoof of today it apparently means 'really good'.

 

[Icy Gull]

Sick, in my books it means vomit or something in bad taste, to the yoof of today it apparently means 'really good'.

Likewise wicked or are they saying wicket

 

[Gully]

Does this mean that if a young person says anything, on one of those rare occasions that they don't either grunt or just glare at you, that they really mean the opposite?

 

[cjd]

Had all this last weekend with my 8 year olds homework.

Of course, they,re more advanced than me.............and knows them as "homophones"..............I,d never heard of the word before.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Brighten - as in "light up your Saturday afternoon with something exciting"
Brighton - as in "watch football on Saturday afternoon"


There are hundreds of them. Here are some more beginning with B:-

bail, bale
bait, bate
baize, bays
bald, bawled
ball, bawl
band, banned
bard, barred
bare, bear
bark, barque
baron, barren
base, bass
bay, bey
bazaar, bizarre
be, bee
beach, beech
bean, been
beat, beet
beau, bow
beer, bier
bel, bell, belle
berry, bury
berth, birth
bight, bite, byte
billed, build
bitten, bittern
blew, blue
bloc, block
boar, bore
board, bored
boarder, border
bold, bowled
boos, booze
born, borne
bough, bow
boy, buoy
brae, bray
braid, brayed
braise, brays, braze
brake, break
bread, bred
brews, bruise
bridal, bridle
brighten, Brighton
broach, brooch
bur, burr
but, butt
buy, by, bye
buyer, byre

 

[Lord Bracknell]

There are some words that are only homophones if you speak cockney or some similar version of regional English:-

beef/Beith
caff/Cath
clove/clothe
deaf/death
fresher/thresher
freshers/threshers
firm/therm
firms/therms
first/thirst
firsts/thirsts
foal/thole
foals/tholes
fie/thigh
feign/thane
feigns/thanes
feoff/thief
fervor/further
Finn/thin
fuse/thews
faugh/for/thaw
ford/thawed
faun/thorn
fauns/thorns
fort/fought/thought
forts/thoughts
fours/thaws
fin/thin
Fred/thread
fresh/thresh
fret/threat
frets/threats
free/three
frill/thrill
frilled/thrilled
frills/thrills
fro/throw
froze/throes
fug/thug
fugs/thugs
half/hearth
infuse/enthuse
infused/enthused
infusing/enthusing
infuses/enthuses
laugh/lath
lave/lathe
leafy/Lethe
live/lithe
loaf/loath
never/nether
oaf/oath
rave/rathe
reef/wreath
roof/Ruth
sheaf/sheath
sliver/slither
suave/swathe
whiff/withe
whiffs/withes

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Then there are words with the same spelling and different pronunciations:-

alternate and alternate, for example.

 

[Frutos]

The word "set" has, I think I remember reading somewhere, the most amount of different possible meanings/uses of any word in the English language.

 

[Dover]

LB. I have suspected for some time that due to Estuary English I speak in gobbledygook, but now I know. Cheers mate.

 

[Peteinblack]

Come / Cum

 

[NMH]

Sweaty as in hot under the collar, overheated condition
Sweaty as in hot under the collar, overheated person from northern region of the UK

Septic tank as in usually rotund container filled with excretions, human waste....

 

[pasty]

Polish - from Poland
polish - Mr Sheen type stuff

reading - a book
Reading - A town

 

[pasty]

The word "set" has, I think I remember reading somewhere, the most amount of different possible meanings/uses of any word in the English language.

I think that was a question on QI. What word has the most definitions in the OED?

 

[Jerryatric]

Spring:

-Season
-Water
-Appear suddenly
-Curved metal thing
-To leap

 

[Barrel of Fun]

There are some words that are only homophones if you speak cockney or some similar version of regional English:-

beef/Beith

On the subject of beef, I was out for a Thai last night. The word Neau appeared on all the beef dishes, so it was safe to assume that Neau means beef. For the pork dishes, the word Moo appeared in each title. Some sort of porcine identity crisis, perhaps?