Homonyms

Homonyms are words identical in sound and/or spelling but entirely different in meaning, between which there is no semantic link (e.g. Ukrainian kosa: 'braid', 'scythe', 'spit of land'). Unlike a polysemous word, whose meanings are linked by a common semantic core, homonyms are different words that have coincided by chance in form. Full homonyms, homophones (identical sound, different spelling), homographs (identical spelling, different pronunciation) and homoforms are distinguished. In literature homonymy is the basis of puns, witticisms, language play, paradoxical juxtapositions and a means of creating a comic effect. Homonymy is studied by lexicology; it must be clearly distinguished from polysemy, with which it borders but from which it fundamentally differs by the absence of a semantic link.