• Polysemy and Homonymy are two similar concepts in linguistics.
Both
of them refer to words having multiple meanings. Polysemy refers to
the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.
Homonymy refers to the existence of two or more words having the
same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins.
This is the main difference between polysemy and homonymy.
Polysemy refers to words or phrases with different, but related Homonymy refers to two unrelated words that look or sound the
meanings. A word becomes polysemous if it can be used to express same. Two or more words become homonyms if they either sound
different meanings. The difference between these meanings can be the same (homophones), have the same spelling (homographs), or if
obvious or subtle. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a they both homophones and homographs, but do not have related
word is polysemous or not because the relations between words can meanings. Given below are some examples of homonyms:
be vague and unclear. But, examining the origins of the words can
help to decide whether a word is polysemic or homonymous. Stalk
– The main stem of a herbaceous plant
The following sentences contain some examples of polysemy.
– Pursue or approach stealthily
He drank a glass of milk.
Sow
He forgot to milk the cow.
– adult female pig
The enraged actor sued the newspaper. – to plant seeds in a ground
He read the newspaper. The above two examples are both written and read alike; they have
His cottage is near a small wood. the same spellings and sounds. Some words do not have the same
spellings, but they share same the same pronunciation. For
The statue was made out of a block of wood. example,
He fixed his hair. Read vs Reed
They fixed a date for the wedding. Right vs Write
Pray vs Prey
Difference Between Polysemy and Homonymy
Definition
Polysemy is the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.
Homonymy is the existence of two or more words having the same spelling or pronunciation
but different meanings and origins.
Meanings
Polysemy has different, yet related meanings.
• Homonymy has completely different meanings.
Origins
Polysemy has related word origins.
Homonymy has different origins.
Dictionaries
Polysemous words are listed under one entry in dictionaries.
Homonymous words are listed separately.
Guessing the Meaning
Polysemous words can be understood if you know the meaning of one word.
• The meaning of homonymous words cannot be guessed since the words have unrelated meanings.
