# heteronym, homograph



## Encolpius

This is a very inetersting phenomenon we all know from the English language. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronym_(linguistics)

I wonder if you can find examples in your mother tongue as well, I cannot recall any word in *Hungarian *and I think that phenomenon does not work in Hungarian at all, but it might work in languages with no fixed stress (Russian?, Italian?). Thanks


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## DearPrudence

We don't have stress in *French* to start with  But we have conjugations!
But I am not sure this qualify as heteronyms.
A quite well-known example:
_"Les poules du *couvent couvent*." _(the hens of the convent are brooding)
*couvent *= n, "ent" pronounced like "en"
*couvent *= v, ent not pronounced.

*convergent *(conjugated verb, "ent" not pronounced) / *convergent *(adj) ("ent" pronounced)
*divergent *(conjugated verb, "ent" not pronounced) / *divergent *(adj) ("ent" pronounced)
*portions *(conjugated verb, the "t" is pronounced "t") / *portions *(n, the t is pronounced "s")

Wait, more examples on wikipedia:



Nous *portions *nos *portions*. (v / n) 
Mes *fils *ont cassé mes *fils*. (n / n) → This is a good one I think: *fils *= *son(s)*: the "s" is pronounced, not the "l" / *fils = threads*, the "l" is pronounced, not the "s". 
Je *vis *ces *vis*. (v / n) 
Cet homme est *fier *; peut-on s'y *fier *?  (adj / n)


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## Tjahzi

Swedish has a few of these as well, most originate from spelling conventions being ignored somewhere in the past.

The reason English has so many is because they lack spelling conventions altogether...


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## Rallino

In Turkish, there are a few cases where this happens.

*1. *The noun form and the negative imperative of a verb are written the same way but the stress is different.

Below are a few examples thereabout, in which I showed the stresses with an acute accent, but normally we don't use any diacritics in this case:

Yapmá = The act of doing
Yápma = Don't do it!
--
Araştırmá = The act of searching; Research
Araştírma = Don't research!
--
Konuşmá = The act of speaking; Speech
Konúşma = Don't speak!

*2. *When a noun or an adjective ends in a consonant, first person singular of verb to be and first person possessive forms are written the same, but the stress is on a differen syllable.
(Again, the accents that appear in the examples are normally not used.)

Öğretménim = I'm a teacher
Öğretmením = My teacher
--
Güzélim = I'm beautiful
Güzelím = My beautiful... ; My dear...


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## apmoy70

In Greek heteronyms appear as a result of the convergence of pronunciation of ancient diphthongs with _ or [e] in the modern language:

«Περνώ» [per'no] --> to pass, go through
«Παίρνω» ['perno] --> to take, collect

«Κλίνω» ['klino] --> to incline, conjugate
«Κλείνω» ['klino] --> to close, shut

«Παιδιά» [pe'ðʝa] --> neut. nom. pl. of neuter noun «παιδί» [pe'ði] (child)
«Πεδία» [pe'ði.a] --> neut. nom. pl. of neuter noun «πεδίο» [pe'ði.o] (field)
«Παιδεία» [pe'ði.a] --> education (fem.)

«Άδεια» ['aðʝa] --> neut. nom. pl. of neuter adj. «άδειο» ['aðʝο] empty 
«Άδεια» ['aði.a] --> leave, license, permit (fem.)_


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## Encolpius

Tjahzi said:


> Swedish has a few of these as well, most originate from spelling conventions being ignored somewhere in the past.
> 
> The reason English has so many is because they lack spelling conventions altogether...



Hello, can you write down 1-2 examples......I am interested...



DearPrudence said:


> We don't have stress in *French* to start with  But we have conjugations!
> But I am not sure this qualify as heteronyms...



Oh, I haven't expect French having heteronyms. It is fantastic you found some examples!! Interesting..



apmoy70 said:


> In Greek heteronyms appear as a result of the convergence of pronunciation of ancient diphthongs with _ or [e] in the modern language:_


_ Hello Apmoy, I am afraid those examples of yours do not look like heteronyms...

It DOES exist in Hungarian what really surprised me. But I had to use the searcher. I think only 1-2 examples in the whole language and I think most languages might belong to that group. 
- egyek 1. [eɟek = I should eat] 2. [eɟɟek] plural of "one"_


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## bibax

Some apmoy's examples are in fact homonyms (klino/kleino, ...) but not all.

Czech:

I. The reflexive pronoun se (= se in Romance languages) is unstressed, the preposition se (= with) is stressed:

P*e*re se s*e* sestrou. = S/he scuffles (is scuffling) with (his/her) sister.

II. The syllables di, ti and ni are pronounced with palatal d,t,n in the words of Czech (Slavic) origin but with non-palatal d,t,n in the foreign words:

Examples (1. meaning of the Czech word pronounced with palatal d,t,n - 2. meaning of the foreign word pronounced with non-palatal d,t,n):

 nit = 1. thread - 2. nit, a unit (candela per square metre);
 divy = 1. wonders, miracles - 2. divas (pl. of diva - a female star);
 díván = 1. pass. part. of the verb _dívati se_ - 2. دیوان a collection of Persian poems;
 tik = 1. sound of the clock - 2. tic disorder;


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## Encolpius

Bibax, excellent examples in a language where heteronyms are so hard to find!!! I thought of foreign words as well, but could not recall any example.


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## ahmedcowon

Many people consider Arabic as a very hard language because it depends on this phenomenon

 In Arabic script, short vowels are omitted and not written, so the same word can give you multiple meanings and pronunciations.

All 3-letter words in Arabic are heteronyms

*Examples*:

*the word كتب (k-t-b):*
كتب (kataba) = wrote
كتب (koteba) = was written
كتب (kotob) = books

*the word درس (d-r-s):*
درس (darasa) = studied
درس (doresa) = was studied
درس (dars) = lesson

*the word شهر (sh-h-r):*
شهر (shahara) = proclaimed
شهر (shahr) = month

*the word مارس (m-a-r-s):*
مارس (maarasa) = exercise
مارس (maares) = March [month]

* the word مصر (m-s-r):*
مصر (moserr) = insistent
مصر (misr) = Egypt

also in Arabic the conjunction (and) is one letter (و) attached the next word:
*the word ورد (w-r-d):*
ورد (wa-radda) = and he ansewred
ورد (ward) = flower
ورد (warada) = was mentioned


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## Encolpius

Yes, yes, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew...many many examples...I wonder if native speakers cannot make mistakes when facing that phenomenon.


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## bibax

Latin:

In Latin the vowel quantity is phonemic but not marked in the written text.

malum = evil; mālum = apple;
venī = come!; vēnī = I came;

nitor/nītor; occido/occīdo; decido/decīdo; hic/hīc;

In sing. ablative all a-stem nouns (like femina, tabula, poeta, ...) are pronounced with long a in the end (feminā, poetā, ...).

Maybe Old Greek had also heteronyms of this kind as well.


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## 涼宮

Well, in Spanish there are a lot if I understood you correctly.

Él dialo*gó* contigo sobre un *diá*logo sobre el cual yo no dia*lo*go. (I just made it up)
He talked with you about a dialogue about which I don't talk.

Él no nada nada. He swims nothing at all.
Nada= nothing
Nada= 3rd person singular of 'nadar'.

Same stress for both.

La llama que está en la llama a la que llama lo llama (formal conjugation). (made it up)

The llama that is in the flame to which you call is calling you.

Same stress for all meanings.


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*_
*en*
- /ɛn/ - one
-/eːn/ - juniper

*dom *
- dåm /dɔm/ - they colloquial
- dom /dʊm/ - judgement, decree
- då:m /doːm/ - cathedral; cupola

*min*
- /mɪn/ - my, mine (pron)
- /miːn/ - air, look, facial expression


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## Montesacro

There are lots of heteronyms in Italian.

Some examples:
_pésca_ (fishing) - _pèsca_ (peach)
_vénti_ (twenty) - _vènti_ (winds)
_àncora_ (anchor) - _ancóra_ (again, more, etc)
_vólto_ (face) - _vòlto_ (I turn around, I turn over)
_prìncipi_ (princes) - _princìpi_ (principles).

One should bear in mind that accents are nearly always omitted, therefore these words are written exactly the same.


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## DearPrudence

涼宮 said:


> Well, in Spanish there are a lot if I understood you correctly.
> [...]
> Él no nada nada. He swims nothing at all.
> Nada= nothing
> Nada= 3rd person singular of 'nadar'.
> 
> Same stress for both.
> 
> La llama que está en la llama a la que llama lo llama (formal conjugation). (made it up)
> 
> The llama that is in the flame to which you call is calling you.
> 
> Same stress for all meanings.


Hmm, but the point is that they are spelt the same, have different meanings and are* pronounced differently*, right?
So "nada, llama,..." don't work if I am not mistaken.
I don't know if Spanish has such words actually if we consider that a written accent mark makes the word different.


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## 涼宮

I see! Then, the only ones that work are the ones that the accent changes the meaning. Piso - pisó, cálculo, calculo, calculó, etc, etc.

I find weird that Wikipedia doesn't have that article in Spanish and in almost any language for that matter.


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## sesperxes

In Serbo-croatian you have: Gore gore gore gore (woods in the hill burn worse). 

In Hungarian you have: Hány az óra? Nem hány, már jóbb! (What's the time/Does the watch vomit? No, he feels better).

In Spanish there's the complete sentence "¿No nada nada?= No, no traje traje. (Don't You swim at all? No, I didn' bring my suit) or the title of a TV soap: "La Familia Mata" (Family kills/Family Bush).


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## DearPrudence

涼宮 said:


> [...] I find weird that Wikipedia doesn't have that article in Spanish and in almost any language for that matter.


Maybe because you don't have that phenomenon, which must be great for text-to-speech software! 



sesperxes said:


> In Spanish there's the complete sentence "¿No nada nada?= No, no traje  traje. (Don't You swim at all? No, I didn' bring my suit) or the title  of a TV soap: "La Familia Mata" (Family kills/Family Bush).


Again, this doesn't work: they are supposed to be *pronounced differently *
What about Sebro-Croatian & Hungarian: are they pronounced the same as well?
If so, this is off topic.


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## Encolpius

sesperxes said:


> In Hungarian you have: Hány az óra? Nem hány, már jóbb! (What's the time/Does the watch vomit? No, he feels better).



The Hungarian word "hány" is a homonym, i.e. 1 word with 2 completely different meaning...



涼宮 said:


> I find weird that Wikipedia doesn't have that article in Spanish and in almost any language for that matter.



They are also called homographs http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homografía


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## olaszinho

In Italian we've got some heteronyms:
*parlo* I speak* parlò *= he/she spoke and many other verbs as well.
*pésca*= fishing (closed e) and *pèsca*= peach (open e)
*àncora* = anchor and *ancòra *= still
*accètta* = he/she accepts and* accétta *=hatchet
*pène* = penis and *péne*= pains
*foro* = hole (closed o) and* fòro *forum/ court of justice
*botte* = barrel (closed o) and *bòtte* (strokes)
*razza (rattsa) = *race, breed *razza (raddza) = *ray
and many others.
All these words are written in the same way but they are pronounced differently.


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## darush

Hi Encolpius,

Due to accepting Arabic script by Iranians, Persian is full of heteronyms.
In Persian script(modified version of Arabic one), consonants can wear three different vowels(æ,ɔ,ɛ)as small accents over or under them. these accents are usually omitted, giving birth to virtual heteronyms. it makes many difficulties, misreading and sometimes too funny mistakes!
we are learned or at least, supposed to be learned to pronounce correctly, but a foreign word which is written in our script is always a new challenge...

Here are some examples:

feather and full
head, secret and slippery
stamp and love
powder and rounded/spherical
England can be pronounced as 'land of parasites!'
Russia and ashamed (you see! how I'm  playing with great powers )
foal, sphere and butter
late and convent
Abrahamian(a last name) can be pronounced as 'cloudes are comming continusely!'
Quebec and partridge
trip and garlic


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## apmoy70

Encolpius said:


> ....Hello Apmoy, I am afraid those examples of yours do not look like heteronyms...
> ...


Hi Encolpius,

do the following count as heteronyms?

«ψηλός, -λή, -λό» [psi'los psi'li psi'lo] (masc. fem. neut.) --> _tall_
«ψιλός, -λή, -λό» [psi'los psi'li psi'lo] (masc. fem. neut.) --> _thin, tenuous_

«νοίκι» ['nici] (neut.) --> _rent_ (colloquialism)
«νίκη» ['nici] (fem.) --> _victory, win_

«κρητικός» [kriti'kos] (masc.) --> _Cretan (person from Crete)_
«κριτικός» [kriti'kos] (masc. & fem.) --> _critic, pundit_

«τείχος» ['tixos] (neut.) --> _dividing wall, wall of a castle_
«τοίχος» ['tixos] (masc.) --> _wall of a room, brick wall_

«έξι» ['eksi] (neut.) --> _numeral six_
«έξη» ['eksi] (fem.) --> _habbit, addiction_

«καρπός» [kar'pos] (masc.) --> _wrist of hand_ 
«καρπός» [kar'pos] (masc.) --> _nut/fruit of tree_

«καινός, -νή, -νό» [ce'nos ce'ni ce'no] (masc. fem. neut.) --> _new_
«κενός, -νή, -νό» [ce'nos ce'ni ce'no] (masc. fem. neut.) --> _empty, void_

«όρος» ['oros] (masc.) --> _term/clause in a contract_
«όρος» ['oros] (neut.) --> _mountain_ 

«τόνος» ['tonos] (masc.) --> _tuna (fish)_ 
«τόνος» ['tonos] (masc.) --> _metric tonne_


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## Youngfun

olaszinho said:


> *parlo* I speak* parlò *= he/she spoke and many other verbs as well.


Hi olaszinho.
I don't think this is a good pair of heteronyms, because of the accent on *parlò* that is compulsory in the writing.
But well done for having found so many pairs, in the other words listed by you the accent is not usually marked. (although _àncora_ occasionaly marked)
In IPA the Italian voiceless z is usually transcribed as /ts/.

Right now I can only add:
*prìncipi*=princes and *princìpi*=principles
If you include loanwords:
*stage* (pronounced as in English steidʒ) = stage and *stage* (pronounced as in French staʒ) = internship
*file* (/file/) = queues and *file* (pron. as in English /fail/) = computer file
*bus* (/bus/) = bus (transport mean) and *bus* (/bas/) = bus (computer component)
Some people admit this difference:
*regìme* = political regime, or regimen in maths/physics and *règime* (mechanics only) = regimen in mechanics, running speed


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## Encolpius

apmoy70 said:


> Hi Encolpius, do the following count as heteronyms?...



Hello Apmoy, I am afraid the list of words you have written belongs to homonyms. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
But don't give up, I am sure you'll find 1-2 examples of Greek heteronyms or *homographs*, maybe with Google searcher (?).


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## bibax

It seems that Greek is similar to Czech and Hungarian in this respect. All three languages have partially etymological orthography. It means that there are plenty of pairs of words that are written differently (according to etymology) but pronounced the same way. However the true homographs are nearly non-existent. In Czech there are only a handful of foreign words that are accidentally spelled the same way like domestic words but the pronunciation is different. But Greek has its own alphabet. Maybe Old Greek would be more promising.


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## Maroseika

Russian has a giant number of omographs (thousands, I think) - as already assumed, due to the shifting stress. Many of such pairs are just different grammatical forms of one word (stressed vowel is underlined):

вина - вина (wines - of wine).

But they can also be quite different word:

ворона - ворона (crow - of a raven)
венец - венец (crown - Viennese)
берегу - берегу ([on] the shore - _ protect)_


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## apmoy70

Encolpius said:


> Hello Apmoy, I am afraid the list of words you have written belongs to homonyms.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
> But don't give up, I am sure you'll find 1-2 examples of Greek heteronyms or *homographs*, maybe with Google searcher (?).



OK I followed yours and bibax's advice and I checked for heteronyms in Ancient Greek; I found these, I sure hope these words count (it's my third and final attempt, mind you )

«ἕξ» (with rough breathing mark) hĕks (neut.) --> _numeral six_
«ἐξ» ĕks --> _preposition out, out of_

«ὅρος» (with rough breathing mark) 'hŏrŏs (masc.) --> _term/clause of a contract_
«ὄρος» 'ŏrŏs (masc.) --> _mountain_

«ὤ» ō --> _exclamation of joy, surprise_
«ὥ» (with rough breathing mark) hō --> _Doric version of Attic adv. «ὡς» hōs: like as, so that_

«ὤρα» 'ōră (fem) --> _care, concern_
«ὥρα» (with rough breathing mark) 'hōră (fem.) --> _hour, period, season_

«ἤ» ē --> _disjunctive or_
«ἥ» (with rough breathing mark) hē -->  _fem. pronoun she_

 «ἴ» ĭ --> _Cypriot version of disjunctive «ἤ» ē: or_
 «ἵ» (with rough breathing mark) hĭ --> _alt. of the genitive «οὗ» hou, of masc. pronoun «ὅς» hŏs: he_ 

«οὐ» ou --> _the negative of fact & statement_
«οὗ» (with rough breathing mark) hou --> _genitive of masc. pronoun «ὅς» hŏs: he_ 

«ἔ» ĕ --> _exclamation of pain: woe_
«ἕ» (with rough breathing mark) hĕ --> _alt. version of «οὗ» hou, genitive of masc. pronoun «ὅς» hŏs: he_


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## Tjahzi

To narrow it down a little, one could say that the great majority of Swedish heteronyms are based on either the fact that the grapheme _o_ can be pronounced both as [oː]/[ɔ] as well as [u:]/[ʊ] (the latter being the modern pronunciation, and the former the historical one that has lingered on), or that long final nasals aren't marked. The rest are due to the phenomenon of pitch accent (although these usually contain the same phonemes).


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## Encolpius

darush said:


> Here are some examples:.... .



salâm darush! don't you want to write your examples in Arabic script or in Romanized original Persian. Many would prefer it to the English words. mersi.


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## darush

^Szia *Encolpius*,

of course! and:

پر/par, por/: feather, full  respectively
سر /sar, serr, sor/: head, secret, slippery
مهر /mohr, mehr/:  stamp, love(kindness)
گرد /gard, gerd/:    powder, rounded/spherical
انگلستان /engelestân, angalestân/: England, land of parasites(excuse me England!)
روسیه /rusie, rusiah/:  Russia, ashamed(literaly)
کره /korre, kore, kare/: foal, sphere, butter
دیر /diir, deyr/: late, convent
کبک /kebek, kabk/: Quebec, partridge
ابراهیمیان /ebrâhiminâ, abrâ hey miân/:Abrahamian(a surname), clouds are...

and here is a saying attributed to on of Persia premiers:

_آسیابانا، ارزن آمد نخود آمد، ماش آوردیم گندمش ده که برنج است _

it seems to be: You miller, millet came, chickpea came, we brought mungbean, gave it wheat because tha's rice!
but in fact is: You miller, if you received a woman, she didn't come herself, *I*'ve sent her. give her wheat because she is feeling uneasy(suffering hunger).


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## Gavril

In present-day written Tagalog, I don't think syllable stress or word-final glottal stops are marked, even though both are contrastive.

As a result, there are at least a few homographic pairs in which a recent loanword contrasts with an older term on the basis of stress or glottalization:

_bata _(stress on the first vowel, final glottal stop) "child"
_bata _(stress on the first vowel, no glottal stop) "robe" < Spanish _bata _

_hapon _(initial stress) "afternoon"
_Hapon _(stress on 2nd syll.) "Japan" < Sp. _japón_


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## Espectro...

bibax said:


> ... In Czech there are only a handful of foreign words that are accidentally spelled the same way like domestic words but the pronunciation is different. ...



At least one domestic Czech heteronym does exist, though: the verb "proudit". If it comes from the noun "proud", which means "stream", then the group "ou" is pronounced as a diphtong and the word means "to stream". However, if it's compounded of a prefix "pro" and a root "udit", then the vowels "o" and "u" are pronounced separately (by a glottal stop or at least as a hiatus) and the word means aprox. "to smoke through, a lot" (for example about meat). There might be some other heteronyms of this type, but at the moment I can't find any...


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## Encolpius

^Zdravím Espectro and welcome to the Forum. Your example is fantastic. Thanks.


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## Ergulis

I was wondering how many homographs, (such as_ lead_ in English) other languages have. We have several homophones in Czech tongue (být, bít), but I can only think of one homograph (panický).

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]


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## 810senior

Japanese has no homographs because the rules of spelling is uniform.
We don't use any alphabets or additional rules in order to express same sounds but have just one single way.

In contract, French has a lot of homographs in according to the difference of accent:
Cote　→　côté[kote]:side, côte[ko:t]:rib, slobe, cote[kot]:rating
Du　→ du:contraction of de+le(of+the), dû: past participle of devoir(to have to)
Ferme　→　ferme[ferm]:a farm fermé[ferme]: past participle of fermer(to close) etc.


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## Messquito

Chinese:
頭髮長長了tóu fà zhǎng cháng le The hair has grown long.
zhǎng=to grow, cháng=long
獨樂樂，不如眾樂樂 dú yùe lè ，bù rú zhòng yùe lè lit. The joy of music is better shared than kept to oneself.
yùe=music, lè=joy
春風風人 chūn fōng fòng rén lit. Spring breeze blowing upon people
fōng=wind, fòng=(wind) to blow
數數(字) shǔ shù zì  Counting numbers
shǔ=count/calculate, shù=numbers
風扇扇風 fōng shàn shān fēng The fan fans
shàn=fan, shān=to fan

一杯香茶，解解解解元之渴
兩曲清歌，樂樂樂樂師之心

There are hundreds of heteronyms in Chinese and many of them possess not only two sounds; one of them have up to 8 sounds in China. So I just give you some examples where the two words happen to be together.


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## Dymn

It's quite difficult to find heteronyms in Catalan. Most of them are based on open-close _e_ and _o _differences:

_*son: *_
/sɔn/ 'sleep, sleepiness'
/sun/ 'his, her, its'

*bec:*
/bɛk/ 'I drink'
/bek/ 'beak'

*moc:*
/mɔk/ 'I move'
/mok/ 'mucus, snot'

*sou:*
/sow/ 'you (pl.) are'
/sɔw/ 'salary'


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## ThomasK

Dutch:
- *kolen*: coal
- *kool, kolen*: cabbage (as in coleslaw)
The o sounds used to be different but now they are the same.

There might be some real ones, but not many, I suppose. I need some time to think.


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## Dymn

More heteronyms in Catalan:

_*seu*_:
/seu̯/: 'his, hers, its, theirs'
/sɛu̯/: 'he/she/it sits' / 'headquarters'

_*te*_:
/tə/: 'you [object pronoun]'
/tɛ/: 'tea'

_*ens*_:
/əns/: 'us [object pronoun]'
/ɛns/: 'entity, organization'

_*pols*_:
/pols/: 'dust'
/pɔls/: 'poles'

_*coure*_:
/ˈkou̯ɾə/: 'cupper'
/ˈkɔu̯ɾə/: 'to cook'

_*sa*_:
/sə/: 'his, her, its, their [feminine]'
/sa/: 'healthy'


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## jazyk

In Portuguese:

Sede with a closed E means thirst.
Sede with an open E means headquarters.

Almoço with a closed O means lunch.
Almoço with an open O means I have lunch.

Sé, with an open E, means cathedral or see (the Holy See).
Sê, with a closed E, is the imperative of ser, to be.
Se, usually pronounced si, is a reflexive pronoun or a conjunction (if/whether), among other things.

São means they are.
São means healthy.
The pronunciation is the same, except as a verb it is unstressed.

Cobra means snake.
Cobra means he/she charges (money).
Both have an open O.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

In Slovenian:

a) pojem (with an accented open o)- 1st person singular of the verb peti-I sing
b) pojem (with an accented closed e)-1st person singular of the verb pojesti-aorist of jesti-I eat
c) pojem (with an accented closed o and e pronounced as schwa)-concept


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## swindaff

A nice Neapolitan tonguetwister came to my mind:
_P’a via ‘e Pavia, pav' je_ (not sure about the apostophes though)= along the way to Pavia (Italian city), I pay. 
[ˈpɑ vɪːə e ˈpɑvɪːə ˈpɑv ɪːə]


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