Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meanings.

\bank, n. - a shore,

_E.g.: < bank, n. - an institution for receiving, lending,
[ exchanging, and safeguarding money;

ball, n. - a sphere; any spherical body, ball, n. - a large dancing party.

The English vocabulary is rich in such pairs and even groups of words. Their identical forms are mostly accidental: the majority of homonyms coincided due to phonetic changes which they suffered dur­ing their development.

If synonyms and antonyms can be regarded as the treasury of the language's expressive resources, homonyms are of no interest in this respect, and one cannot expect them to be of particular value for com­munication. Metaphorically speaking, groups of synonyms and pairs of antonyms are created by the vocabulary system with a particular pur­pose, whereas homonyms are accidental creations, and therefore pur­poseless.

In the process of communication they are more of an encum­brance, leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding. Yet, it is this very characteristic that makes them one of the most important sources of popular humour. The pun is very often a joke based on a play upon words of similar form but different meaning(i.e. on homonyms)as in the following:

"A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a per­
fect fit."

(The joke is based on the homonyms: L fit, n. — perfectly fitting clothes; II. fit, n. — a nervous spasm).

Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling are tradi­tionally termed homonyms proper.

Bean, n. and been, past part, of to be are homophones. As the ex­ample shows they are the same in sound but different in spelling.Here are some more examples of homophones: night, n. — knight, n; piece, n. — peace, n.; scent, n. — cent, n. — sent, v. (past indef., past part, of to send); rite, n. — to write, v. — right, adj.; sea, n. — to see, v. — C [si:] (the name of a letter).

The third type of homonyms is called homographs. These are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound.

bow[bau], v. - to incline the head or body in salutation, g"' 1 bow [bou], n. - a flexible strip of wood for propelling arrows;

cf to lead [li: d], v. - to conduct on the way, go before to show

the way, lead [led], n. - a heavy, rather soft metal;

[to tear [teal, v. - to pull apart or in pieces by force,
\ tear [Us], n. - a drop of fluid secreted by the lacrimal
I glands of the eye.