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