noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈhɒmənɪm/
General-American:/ˈhɑmənɪm/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɒmənɪm
CMU ARPABET:HH AO1 M AH0 N IH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A word that sounds or is spelled the same as another word (but not necessarily both).
A word that both sounds and is spelled the same as another word.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: word, term
2
noun
Meaning 2
A word that sounds or is spelled the same as another word (but not necessarily both).
A name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another name that belongs to a different taxon.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
Topics: biology, natural-sciences, taxonomy
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: word, term
3
noun
Meaning 3
two words are homonyms if they are pronounced or spelled the same way but have different meanings
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: word
Narrower terms: homograph, homophone
History
Etymology
From Latin homōnymum, from Ancient Greek ὁμώνυμον (homṓnumon), nominalized from the neuter of ὁμώνῠμος (homṓnŭmos, “homonymous”). By surface analysis, hom- + -onym.
Across languages
Translations
48 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
homonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Armenian:
համանուն
(hamanun)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Bulgarian:
омоним
(omonim)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Catalan:
homònim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Crimean Tatar:
omonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Czech:
homonymum
— word with the same sound or spelling
Danish:
homonym
— word with the same sound or spelling
Dutch:
homoniem
— word with the same sound or spelling
Esperanto:
homonimo
— word with the same sound or spelling
Finnish:
homonymia
— word with the same sound or spelling
French:
homonyme
— word with the same sound or spelling
Georgian:
ომონიმი
(omonimi)
— word with the same sound or spelling
German:
Homonym
— word with the same sound or spelling
German:
Homonymum
— word with the same sound or spelling
Greek:
ομώνυμο
(omónymo)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Greek:
ομώνυμος
(omónymos)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Ancient Greek:
ὁμώνυμος
(homṓnumos)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Hebrew:
הוֹמוֹנִים
— word with the same sound or spelling
Hungarian:
homonima
— word with the same sound or spelling
Hungarian:
azonos alakú szó
— word with the same sound or spelling
Ido:
homonimo
— word with the same sound or spelling
Indonesian:
homonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Japanese:
同音異義語
(dōon igigo)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Japanese:
同音語
(dōongo)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Kashmiri:
ہَم نٲوؠ
(ham nạ̄v')
— word with the same sound or spelling
Khmer:
កល្បពាក្យ
(kɑlpa’ piek)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Korean:
동음이의어
(dong'eumiuieo)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Kumyk:
аваздаш
(awazdaş)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Latin:
homonymum
— word with the same sound or spelling
Malayalam:
നാനാർത്ഥം
(nānāṟtthaṁ)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Manx:
co-ennym
— word with the same sound or spelling
Māori:
kupu huarite
— word with the same sound or spelling
Polish:
homonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Portuguese:
homónimo
— word with the same sound or spelling
Portuguese:
homônimo
— word with the same sound or spelling
Romanian:
omonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Russian:
омо́ним
(omónim)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Serbo-Croatian:
homonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Slovene:
enakozvočnica
— word with the same sound or spelling
Slovene:
homonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Spanish:
homónimo
— word with the same sound or spelling
Swedish:
homonym
— word with the same sound or spelling
Tamil:
பல்பொருள் ஒருசொல்
(palporuḷ orucol)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Thai:
คําพ้องความหมาย
(kam-pɔ́ɔng-kwaam-mǎai)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Turkish:
homonim
— word with the same sound or spelling
Turkish:
sesteş
— word with the same sound or spelling
Ukrainian:
омо́нім
(omónim)
— word with the same sound or spelling
Venetan:
omònemo
— word with the same sound or spelling