Homonyms A homonym is a word which shares the same spelling and the same pronunciation as another word, but has a different meaning. They are another case of the weird and wonderful world of the English language, which makes it so much fun, yet so tricky to learn. For example the word ‘pupil’ is a homonym; it can mean a school child or part of the eye. The only way we can tell which is correct is in the context of the sentence as a whole. They are often used in crossword puzzles with clues such as ‘a flower found in the eye’; answer ‘iris’. The word homonym comes from the Greek, meaning ‘having the same name’. We have just published four great pages on homonyms, looking at words such as: second, junk, and swallow and their meanings in different contexts. Go to homonyms