What is "homograph"

Homograph \Hom"o*graph\, n. [Gr. "omo`grafos with the same letters; "omo`s the same + gra`fein to write.] (Philol.) One of two or more words identical in orthography, but having different derivations and meanings; as, fair, n., a market, and fair, a., beautiful.

1810, a method of signaling, from homo- (1) "same" + -graph "something written." Meaning "a word of identical spelling with another, but of different origin and meaning, is from 1873. Related: Homographic; homography.

n. A word that is spelled the same as another word, usually having a different etymology, such as "bear", the animal, and "bear", to support, to tolerate, etc.

n. two words are homographs if they are spelled the same way but differ in meaning (e.g. fair)

A homograph (from the , homós, "same" and γράφω, gráphō, "write") is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also sound differently, while the Oxford English Dictionary says that the words should also be of "different origin". In this vein, The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography lists various types of homographs, including those in which the words are discriminated by being in a different word class, such as hit, the verb to strike, and hit the noun a blow.

If, when spoken, the meanings may be distinguished by different pronunciations, the words are also heteronyms. Words with the same writing and pronunciation (i.e. are both homographs and homophones) are considered homonyms. However, in a looser sense the term "homonym" may be applied to words with the same writing or pronunciation. Homograph disambiguation is critically important in speech synthesis, natural language processing and other fields. Identically-written different senses of what is judged to be fundamentally the same word are called polysemes; for example, wood (substance) and wood (area covered with trees).