English Heteronyms

Heteronyms present a significant barrier to English learners. But don’t worry; I’ll teach you the most popular instances and how to pronounce them.

Tagged With: Heteronyms

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Video Transcript:

I was working on this video, and I got confused. I’m an English teacher, and the English language totally confused me. I had to write out a chart to sort it out. Today we’re talking about Amazing English words, heteronyms, we’re increasing our vocabulary, and we’re talking about how crazy and confusing English can be.  

There are lots of reasons why English is crazy, and today we’re focusing on words that look the same, but they aren’t the same. Let me introduce you to my three nieces. Triplets. Looking pretty similar, perhaps hard to tell apart by looking, but get to know them, and you get to know their aura, their being, and you see how they are different. We’re going to do that today with English.  Take this word for example. As a verb, it’s project. Second syllable stress, and it means to estimate, to guess something about the future. So instead of saying, “I think we’ll be two days ahead of schedule,” you could say, “We project we’ll be two days ahead of schedule.” It’s a next-level vocabulary word, a little more sophisticated, maybe a little more formal. As a noun, it looks the same as this.  

The pronunciation is different though, and the meaning too. Now it’s project, a noun, a piece of work planned to achieve a certain goal. For example, I have a school project – I have to build a birdfeeder. A project can be big: We have a big house project, we’re gutting and redoing our bathroom. If you’re gutting something in a house, you’re tearing down most things but not the outside walls and starting over: new flooring, fixtures, maybe moving walls, and so on. That is to gut a house for a room. It’s a big project. But a project can also be small: I have a bunch of small projects to do around the house this weekend, like watering all the plants.  

It also means to extend out from something, to protrude. Protrude is another great vocabulary word. Look at these images of the Sky Walk at the Grand Canyon. It shows a walkway that extends from the building, it sticks out, it protrudes, it projects out over the canyon.   

These symbols that you see with the words, showing the different pronunciations, are called the International Phonetic Alphabet. And they come in really handy when you’re trying to write sounds. It’s definitely worth becoming familiar with the symbols for the sounds of American English, so I encourage you to download my free Sounds of American English Cheat Sheet. I give you the symbols for each sound as well as an illustration for how to make it. You can get it free by clicking here or the link below.  

ProJECT: to estimate. PROject: a piece of work with a certain goal. ProJECT: to stick out. One spelling, looks the same. Different meanings, different uses, different pronunciations. These are called heteronyms. This is a subset of homogpraph.   

‘Homo’ or homo means ‘same’ and ‘graph’ relates to writing. So these are words that are written the same, the same spelling. Homograph. If the pronunciation is the same, that’s a homonym. If the pronunciation is different, that’s a heteronym, and that’s what we’ll study today.  

If the pronunciation is the same but the spelling is different, that’s called a homophone, English is full of them, and I have a very long video that goes over a lot of those. I’ll put a link to that in the video description in the description for this video.   

Ok. Heteronyms. I’ve put together a list and I’ll go alphabetically. This is not an absolute complete list, and some of these words may have many definitions and I haven’t always listed each one. Some of these have related meanings.  For example, HOUSE, with and S, a structure to live in. We bought a new house and are moving next month. But as a verb, HOUSE, it means to provide a home for.  We house international students in our guest room. Noun with an S sound and Verb with a Z sound. House, houze. In this video, I’m leaving out that kind of pair where the meanings are related and I’m focusing more on heteronyms where the meaning is completely different.  

Affect – feelings or emotions. He had a really flat affect. I couldn’t tell if he was happy, sad or angry.  Flat affect. No expression.  

Affect – to make a difference to. Being around smokers affected her health and she developed asthma.  That’s asthma, with a silent TH.   

Affect. Affect  

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AL-ternate: to switch back and forth. We alternate who gets up with the baby in the middle of the night.  

AL-ter-nit: a different one, or the next choice. The student that was chosen for my live class wasn’t available, so I worked with an alternate student instead.  

AL-ternate. AL-ter-nit 

Address: a speech. I’m giving an address at a conference later this month.  

Uh-dress:  the location of a building, the direction for a piece of mail.  What’s your uh-ddress? I’ll send you a postcard.  

Now, here’s a higher-level vocabulary use for this word: to think about or deal with an issue or a problem. How do we address the issue of malnutrition in seniors? Now, as a verb, “how do we address this issue?” – it’s always uh-dress, with second-syllable stress.  

Address. Uh-dress.  

BASS with the AA vowel is a kind of fish. For tonight’s special, we’re offering a grilled striped bass.  

But change the pronunciation to the AY diphthong, bass, it’s an object, an upright bass, or a bass guitar, it’s also, in 4-part harmony, the lowest voice. Bass, tenor, alto, soprano. And guess what? This pronunciation of ‘bass’ is a homophone with this word: b-a-s-e, base.  That means they sound the same but they’re spelled differently.  And this word, base, has a lot of meanings. It means the lowest part of something. You need a strong base to support the bridge. It means the center of operations. This clothing brand is based in Los Angeles. It’s one of these things, that you have to touch or stand on in baseball to be safe, and because of all the baseball idioms we have, there are some idioms with this word. If you’re way off-base, that means you’re not at the truth, you’re mistaken. For example, “Hey guys, I solved the problem! Look, this is how we do it”. “No, I don’t think so, I think that’s still pretty off-base.” Or have you heard the phrase touch base? We use this all the time to check in on something or someone. For example, let’s say you sell software. You have a company interested in a big purchase. You haven’t heard from them in a while, so you want to check in with them. You could call them up and say, “Hey, I just wanted to touch base to see if you wanted to move forward, or if you have any questions I can answer.” 

Bass, bass, base. 

Bow. It means to bend over like you may do after a performance. You may bow after playing your bass in a concert.  

Bow – in your hair, you may tie a pretty bow for that concert.  Bow, bow.  

Close 

Physical proximity. I’m not quite close enough to reach it. This is with an S but end that with a Z, close, it’s the opposite of open. Please close the door.  

Close. Close. 

CON-sole. A cabinet, like for a TV, a gaming device. The thing between the front seats of your car where you store stuff.  One time I spilled a whole container of Tom-Yum soup all over the console of my car, it got in every nook and cranny, and my car smelled like Tom-Yum for months despite many cleanings.  

CON sole. But also, conSOLE. To offer emotional support, to comfort. I consoled my son after he lost an important soccer game.  

Console. Console.  

CONtract – An official written agreement. They offered him a 3-year modeling contract. 

conTRACT – to decrease in size, number, or range. Your heart contracts about 70 times a minute. The opposite of this word is expand. Wood doors expand and contract depending on moisture and humidity.  Have you ever noticed if it’s really humid that you might have to work harder to close a door?  That’s because it has expanded a little. 

Also, conTRACT, to catch or develop a disease or infection. He contracted Covid-19 at a birthday party. 

Contract. Contract  

DESert. One S, an arid region. The Sahara is the world’s largest desert.  

But, also desert. Stress changes now. deSERT.  To leave, to abandon. Don’t desert me now. I need you.  

And now this pronunciation is a homophone, that is, it sounds the same but it’s spelled differently from this word, dessert, two s’s but it’s still pronounced Z!  And this is something delicious and sweet to eat at the end of a meal. I let the kids have ice cream for dessert a couple of times a week.   

DESert, deSERT, dessert.  

DIgest – a compilation or summary of information. Golf Digest brings together golf news from all over the world to one place.  

diGEST – This is how your body breaks down food. Though we usually think of food for this, we can also use it with information or news – to take in and understand.  I’m trying to study for a big test but there’s just so much to digest.   

Dove (DUV) – a beautiful bird. They released doves at their wedding. 

Dove (DOHVE):  past tense of dive. He dove into the water.  

Dove. Dove.   

Incense (INsense): something that’s burned for the smell it gives off. Some churches burn incense during services. 

But, incense (inSENCE) means to make really angry. This is a great next-level vocabulary word to use instead of ‘mad’. I snuck out after curfew and my parents were incensed.  

Incense. Incense.  

Invalid (INvalid). Someone who’s sick a lot of the time. She’s sort of an invalid and doesn’t really leave the house.  

Invalid (In VALid). Not valid, not legitimate, not legally acceptable. Your passport is an inVALid form of ID because it expired.  

Invalid. Invalid  

Lead (LEED) – to guide. You lead the way; I don’t know where I’m going. 

But also, Lead (LEHD), the chemical element. Lead poisoning in children is a problem in the Philadelphia area.  

And here’s what’s funny, the past tense of lead is pronounced LED but it’s spelled L-E-D. So L-E-D is a homophone, sounds the same as LEAD the element, which is a heteronym with the present tense of LED, LEAD.  Is that confusing?? 

Lead. Lead. Led 

Minute (MINute)  – 60 seconds. I’ll be back in five minutes.  Also, have you ever heard the phrase “Wait a minute”?  It doesn’t actually mean to wait a minute. It means something is not understood or stop. Wait a minute, I thought you said she was in high school, but she’s in college?  Wait a minute. 

Minute (mai-NYOOT), extremely small, insignificant. You have to focus on the overall project and not get stuck on minute details.  

Minute. Minute.   

Object (OBject) – a thing. There were some objects on the table, but I couldn’t tell what they were. 

Object (obJECT) – to disagree. I object to that interpretation of the law.  

Object. Object.  

Patronize 

This one is crazy because it has opposite meanings, and both are great next-level vocabulary words.  

If you patronize something, you go there as a customer. A restaurant, a theater, and so on. We like to patronize our local shops whenever possible rather than buying from big box stores. A big box store would be like a Walmart, CVS, or Target. So instead of saying, I like to shop at my local pharmacy, or, I like to buy things at my local pharmacy, you could say, I like to patronize my local pharmacy. And that’s a good thing. Your local businesses want you to patronize them. They want you to go spend your money there.   

So you want somebody to patronize (PAYtronize) you, but you don’t want them to PATronize you.  To patronize is to talk down to someone, to feel superior to them. He patronizes a lot of people at work because he thinks he’s better than them. If you think someone is doing this to you, you could say, ‘Stop patronizing me.’  Now, this meaning can also be pronounced PAYtonized.  

Patronize. Patronize.  

Polish (PAHlish) – to shine something. I need to get these shoes polished, they’re looking kind of old.  

But, with a capital P, it’s Polish, which means from or relating to Poland. There are a lot of Polish restaurants in this area. 

Polish. Polish.  

PREsent:  a gift. I got her a present for her birthday. Or, to be physically there. She was not present at the meeting. It also means this very moment. Not the past, not the future, but the present. Meditation helps you feel present in the moment. 

But we also have preZENT: to formally give something. He’s going to present his research at the next meeting.  This means everyone will be quiet, watching, paying attention to this “presentation”.  

Present. Present.  

A record is this thing. It can also mean something official to be kept track of or stated: For the record, I think this trip is going to be a disaster, but I will go with you. 

But it can also mean to write down, to keep track of, or to capture like audio or video. Do you mind if I record our conversation?  

Record. Record.  

Resume (reZUM) – to start again. We’ll take a 15-minute break then resume the meeting.  

But it’s also pronounced REzume, and it means a document of your work experience. It’s sometimes written with these accent marks, but doesn’t have to be. To apply for the job, please send a cover letter and resume.  

Resume. Resume.  

SUBject means theme. The subject of today’s lecture is American English Pronunciation.  

SubJECT means to expose to or to force upon someone. He was subjected to a lot of verbal abuse by his boss at his old job.   

Tear (Teer): fluid in the eye. There was a tear running down his cheek even though he was trying not to cry.  

Tear: a rip, Oh no, there’s a tear in a page of my son’s favorite book. And this pronunciation is a homophone, sounds the same, tare. T-a-r-e. This word means the weight of something. For example, you would tare a scale if you set something on it, but you don’t want that factored into the total weight. I might put the bowl on the scale, tare it, and then add 50 grams of sugar.  

Tear. Tare.  

Wind (WAInd) – to roll, coil, to have a circular direction. I have to wind the crank on my desk to raise it to a standing position.  

Wind (WIHnd): the natural motion of air. Expect heavy wind and rain today.  

Wind. Wind.  

Wound. Now, the first pronunciation is the past tense of what we just one of the words we just learned, wAInd. I wound the crank.  

But it’s also pronounced woooond, and in this case it means an injury. He has an open wound from the fire.  

Wound, wound.   

Now, there are more heteronyms than what I put here, so if you can think of a pair, put it in the comments below. Are you going to level-up your vocabulary with any of these words? Which one do you think will be the most useful for you?   

Thank you so much for studying with me.  Keep your learning going now with this video. Please subscribe here on YouTube and be sure to turn on notifications. I make new videos on the English language every week and I’d love to see you here. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English. 

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