Click for symbol explanations,
some comments,
an example of how to
interpret the data, or dictionary abbreviations.
| Homograph | Homonym | homophone | ||||||||||||||
| Dictionary | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | ||||
| AHD4 (See Note 1) | And | S | D | D | Ds | So | D | - | S | Ds | D | D | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Ch93 | And | S | - | - | - | Sm | D | D | S | D | D | - | S | |||
| Or | - | d | d | d | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| CIDE (See Note 2) | And | S | D | - | X | S | D | - | - | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | db | db | - | - | ||||
| MEU3 | And | S | - | - | - | - | D | - | - | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | d | d | - | s | - | - | s | d | d | d | - | ||||
| MWCD | And | S | - | - | - | S | D | - | S | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | d | d | d | - | - | - | - | d | d | d | - | ||||
| Homograph | Homonym | homophone | ||||||||||||||
| Dictionary | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | ||||
| NSOED | And | S | - | - | - | S | D | D | - | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | d | d | d | - | - | - | - | d | d | d | - | ||||
| OCEL
(See Note 3) | And | S | D | D | D | - | D | - | - | D | D | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | s | - | - | s | - | - | - | - | ||||
| OED | And | S | D | D | - | - | D | - | S | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | d | d | - | ||||
| Ox Amer | And | S | - | - | - | - | D | - | - | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | d | d | - | s | - | - | s | - | - | - | - | ||||
| RHWUD | And | S | D | Du | X | S | D | - | S | X | D | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Homograph | Homonym | homophone | ||||||||||||||
| Dictionary | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | Splg | Mng | Orig | Pron | ||||
| W3NID | And | S | - | - | - | S | D | - | S | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | d | d | d | - | - | - | - | d | d | d | - | ||||
| WNID | And | S | D | D | - | - | D | - | S | Do | D | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| WNID2 | And | S | D | D | - | Do | D | D | S | Du | D | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| WNWCD | And | S | D | D | Sm | Du | D | D | S | - | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| IMHO
(See Note 4) | And | S | - | D | - | S | D | - | S | D | - | - | S | |||
| Or | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
I prefer to have "homograph" defined nearly the same way it's defined in the OED, the only difference being that I don't think words with the same meaning should be excluded from being homographs. I believe that the most interesting homograph pair of all is one where the two words have come from two completely different etyma and have converged to have the same spelling, pronunciation and meaning. Homographs of that sort are probably extremely rare in English, but someone has proposed "biddy" as a candidate. It can refer to a woman. In one derivation, "biddy" has come as a nickname for "Bridget". In the other derivation it has come from an earlier word for a chicken. Dictionaries don't support this theory unequivocally, but neither do they firmly deny that it's valid.
I dislike a requirement that homographs must be pronounced differently. This would, for example, keep the two meanings of "repair" from comprising a homograph pair.
I like the OCEL point of view that treats "homonym" as a three-way split. (See Note 3.)
I prefer not to require that homophones have different meanings. This would prevent "tyre" and "tire" from being homophones, and I think they should be.
The only three things that are consistent over all of the sources are
As an example of how to interpret the data, I will convert each part of the Chambers 93 entry to a textual description: