Homonym words are those words that have the same pronunciation or sound, but have a different meaning or refer to different things. These are terms with different origins or etymologies, but for some reason they have acquired the same name or pronunciation. Here is an explanation, origin and the 43 most used examples.

Some authors consider the homonyms and homographs terms equivalent. Homonym words are divided into two conditions or states, the condition of phonology and the condition of spelling (the way it is written). So if two words match in pronunciation, then these are homophones. For instance... the word "Asta" which refers to the horn of an animal, and the word "hasta" which means "until"; these two words are pronounced exactly the same, so they meet the phonological condition, however they differ in their spelling so the homonymy is considered partial.

Now if the two words are pronounced and written in the same way, then they are homograph words and the homonymy is total. An example for this condition is the word wine which means "came", and also means "wine". Basically, all homograph words are homophones at the same time.

Historically, homonym words in Spanish have three types of origin

It is understood that the first origin is due to a convergent phonological evolution. Basically a word suffers an erosion over time. For example, the word DON, which means "gift", and the word DON, which refers to the treatment of honor or respect towards a man. The starting points for these two words are completely different, both originating from Latin, they have undergone change over time. The word DONUM in Latin means “gift”, and the word DOMINUM means “mister or sr”. These changes have contributed to the growth in homonym words in Spanish Language.

The second origin is that a semantic divergence gives rise to different meanings that speakers no longer perceive as linked. For example, this was what happened with the word BANK (in English is bench) that refers to the object to sit and BANK (in English is bank) institution to deposit money. The predecessors of our current bankers, did business in the public square, where you sat on banks with a small table to serve customers. Today, the knowledge of this historical fact has been lost, but it gave rise to two words that finally have different meanings.

The third origin is due to the media and information globalization ... and it is that it is as simple as that some word becomes a popular trend, and coincidentally this same word or name exists in the Spanish language, but with another meaning. Then another homonymy arises.

Homonymy gives rise to confusion, and is that if the form of the words converges, it is possible that even the same expression may have two different meanings. For example ... I'm going hunting! (which means "I'm going hunting"), an expression that is sometimes used to indicate that you are going to a party ... and the expression I'm leaving home! (which means "I'm leaving home"), they are easily confused with each other. It is because of the homonymy in the Spanish language that the use of accents is so important to be able to communicate better, as well as the pronunciation.

Many students of the Spanish language tend to confuse similar words, but not the same in their writing or pronunciation, for example "species" and "spice", which means "species" and "spice" respectively.


Here we share 43 examples of the most used "homonyms words" in Spanish language.
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Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language
Homonym Words in Spanish Language