Homonymy in English and Arabic: A Contrastive Study

Ahmed Mohammed Ali Abdul Ameer Areej As’ad Ja’far Altaie

College of Education (Safi yil Deen Al-Hilli)/University of Babylon

Introduction
In fact, although homonymy is defined differently in English, yet in general, a
word is similar in form with another word either in pronunciation (i.e. homophone) or in
spelling (homograph), or both, but differs from it in meaning. On the other hand, in
Arabic, there is a general agreement that the homonym is an expression with one
enunciation (or form) and more than one meaning. Actually, this phenomenon creates
lexical and syntactic ambiguity in both languages. Thus, it should be studied and
examined. In addition, homonymy has its own features, specifications and forms in each
language. Hence, this research aims at:
1- investigating homonymy in English and Arabic.
2- making a comparison between the two languages to show the similarities and
differences between them.

Homonymy in English
Definitions of Homonymy
Originally, the word "homonym" comes from the conjunction of the Greek prefix
homo-, meaning "same", and suffix -ṓnymos, meaning "name". Thus, it refers to two or
more distinct concepts sharing the "same name" or signifier (Wikipedia 2010: 1).
Lyons (1982: 72; Oxford Wordpower 2000:366; Richards and Schmidt 2002:241;
and Yule 2006:107) define ‘homonyms’ as a term used in semantics for lexical items that
are identical in spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings. Examples of
homonyms are lie as in you have to lie down and lie in Don’t lie, tell the truth. The above
definition does not involve anything about homophones and homographs; in addition, it
creates a problem with polysemy.
Hartmann and Stork (1976:105; Atichison 1993:52; and Fromkin et al. 2003: 71)
agree that homonyms are different words with the same pronunciation that may or may
not be identical in spelling. Thus, they give them a definition that is partially similar to
that of homophones. On the other hand, Watkins et al. (2001:269) define it just like
defining homophones, i.e., “words that sound exactly like other words but have different
spellings” in spite of the fact of not naming them ‘homophones’ in addition to
‘homonyms’ as Fromkin et al. (2003:71) do.
Gramley and Pätzold (1992:13) and Wikipedia (2010: 2), on the other hand,
define homonymy as “the existence of different lexemes that sound the same
(homophones, e.g. days/daze) or are spelt the same (homographs, e.g lead (guide)/lead
(metal)) but have different meanings.” In this way, they divide them into homophones
and homographs. This is the definition that is adopted in this research.

On a larger scope, homonymy is defined as a word that is identical in form with

another word, either in sound (as a homophone) or in spelling (as a homograph), or both,
but differs from it in meaning. For example, sale (an act or of selling something) and sail
(to travel on water); bark (the skin of a tree) and bark (the sound of a dog); or pitch
(throw)/pitch (tar).

Types of Homonyms
1- Complete (full, absolute)
Those are homonyms that have the same pronunciation and the same spelling i.e.
the identity covers spoken and written forms. Classic examples are bank (embankment)
and bank (place where money is kept) (Lyons 1982:72 and Allan 1986:150).
2- Partial homonyms
They are those where the identity covers a single medium, as in homophony and
homography. Thus, homophones and homographs are considered partial homonyms
(Crystal 2003:220). Watkins et al. (2001:269) differentiate between homonyms and what
they call ‘near homonyms’. According to them homonyms are words that are “exactly”
alike in pronunciation but differ in spelling and meaning, e.g. morning and mourning;
there and their, while near homonyms do not sound exactly alike, e.g. except and accept;
loose and lose.
3- Word homonyms
These are homonyms where all the forms of a paradigm and its collocational
possibilities are identical. Thus, one does not get any indication of their belonging to one
word or the other. Such homonyms are generally found in words belonging to the same
part of speech. Examples are seal and seals (plural of seal which is an animal) and seal
and seals (plural of seal which is an impression placed on things to legalize them). In
addition, the possessive forms of these words, i.e, seal’s are identical (Singh 1982: 24).
4- Homonyms of word forms
These are homonyms in which only few word forms are identical. Generally, the
canonical forms in addition to some forms are alike and some others are not identical. For
example lie that means not to tell the truth becomes lied in the past and past participle
while lie, that means to rest one’s body, becomes lay in the past (ibid.).
5- Lexical Homonyms
When the homonyms belong to the same part of speech, they are called lexical
homonyms. The difference is only in their lexical meaning. They can be found under one
entry in the dictionary (Singh 1982: 25). For example, trunk (part of an elephant) and
trunk (a storage chest).
6- Grammatical Homonyms
When the difference between homonyms is not only confined to the lexical
meaning but the grammatical types are also different, they are called grammatical
homonyms. They are given separate entries in the dictionary. In these cases, the words
have similar canonical form but different paradigms and structural patterns. Verbs
occurring as transitive and intransitive or lexical units that occur as nouns, verbs,
adjectives, etc. (e.g. cut (v.), cut (n.), cut (adj.)) are examples of such homonyms (ibid.).

Homonymy and Polysemy

In semantic analysis, the theoretical distinction between homonymy and polysemy
creates a problem that has captivated the attention of many linguists. Polysemy (polly-
seamus in Latin) is defined roughly as the existence of one lexeme with many related
meanings. The fact that polysemy is a property of single words is what differentiates it
from homonymy in principle (Lyons 1982:146). For instance, the words neck, guard,
music, and bachelor are polysemous since each one of them appears in standard
dictionaries of English as a single lexeme with several distinguishable meanings, whereas
homonyms generally have separate dictionary entries often marked with superscripts 1, 2,
and so forth (Fromkin et al. 2003: 180).
The problem of how to draw the line between homonymy and polysemy can be
solved by the recognition that the different senses of the word are related historically, i.e,
they can be traced back to the same source, e.g. pupil (student) and pupil (of the eye) —
although Yule (2006:107) mentions that homonyms are not historically related but have
accidently become similar– or if one meaning can be derived from the other, i.e., there is
a metaphorical connection between them and they are different uses of the same word,
e.g. face (noun- front part of head) and face (noun- front part of clock). Leech (1976:
230) specifies the difference in the definitions of homonymy and polysemy in the
following way:
We can explain polysemy happily enough as the existence of more than one
semantic specification for the same lexical item; and we can also define
homonymy as the existence of more than one morphological specification sharing
the same phonological or graphic form.

Homonymy and Pun

Pun is a witticism which relies for its effect on playing with the different
meanings of a word, or bringing two words together with the similar form but different
meanings; it is also called paronomasia (Crystal 2003:467).
Razzak et al. (1981: 123) define pun as the use of the same word (or two words
similar in sound) in different senses for humorous purposes. For instance, you say you are
studying trees. What branch of the subject are you specializing in?
 From the definitions above, homonymy is known as puns in literature because it
creates much humour especially in literature. Writers like Shakespeare use them
frequently in their writings. Famous examples that are used by Shakespeare are tail/tale,
hole/whole, hoar/whore (Pyles 1971: 4).

Homonymy and Allonymy

Words or phrases that differ in spelling and pronunciation as well as meaning and origin
are called ‘allonyms’ (Riggs 1999:8). An example of allonyms is alligator and true.
Thus, according to the definition they are uniquely different words. This term, allonymy,
is considered a fourth one in neologism, the three others being homonymy, homophony,
and homography.
Actually, most words in English are allonyms but this does not mean that the
term ‘allonyms’ is unnecessary since one can describe languages using it. In some
languages like Chinese, allonyms are rare whereas homophones are found alot (Ibid.: 9).

Homographs
Palmer (1984:101, Allan 1986:151; Gramley and Pätzold 1991:13; Richards and
Schmidt 2002:241) believe that homographs are words that are written in the same way
but are pronounced differently and have different meanings. Well-known examples of
homographs are lead // (metal) and lead // (guide). Sometimes, the term
‘homograph’ is used interchangeably with the term ‘homonym’ as indicated by Richards
and Schmidt (2002:241). However, homographs and homophones are considered part of
homonymy.
Another definition is that homography is a term used in semantic analysis to
indicate lexemes that are written alike but may or may not be pronounced similarly and
have different meanings (Pyles 1971:4 and Wikipedia 2010: 2).
Lyons (1982:71) and Crystal (2003:220) illustrate that homographs are words that
share the same spelling but differ in meaning. For instance, wind (blowing) and wind
(verb- a clock). This definition ignores the element of pronunciation. Thus, problems of
ambiguity may occur between homographs and polysems.
In writing, homography is defined as one kind of writing system or spelling in
which there is one-to-one correspondence between graphic signs and speech sounds.
Examples of such homographic systems are the phonetic transcription, or the alphabets of
some languages that have a phonetic alphabet. As such, the opposite to the term
‘homography’ is ‘heterography’. The spelling system of languages like English or French
are examples of heterographic writing systems (Hartmann and Stork 1976:105 and
Crystal 2003:220).

Homographs and Heteronyms

The term ‘heteronym’ is used for words that are identical in spelling but different
in pronunciation and meaning. Examples of heteronyms are dove // (a bird) and
dove // (the past tense of dive) wind // (noun- air that moves quickly) and
wind // (verb- to twist something); bow // (to bend) bow // (a weapon
used for shooting arrows), and hundreds of others (Fromkin et al. 2003: 180).
Hence, heteronymy equals homography according to the first definition of
homography; or heteronymy is part of homography following the second definition in
which all heteronyms are homographs but not the reverse.

Homophones
Many linguists agree that homophones are two or more words that sound alike but
are written differently and have different meanings. Examples of homophones are
threw/through, sight/site, and rite/right/write/wright (Palmer 1984:101; Lass 1998:29;
Richards and Schmidt 2002:241; and Crystal 2003:221). Thus, homophones are deemed
to be part of homonymy, the other part being homographs.

Homonymy and Ambiguity

Homonymic clash (sometimes called homophonic clash or homonymic conflict) is
a term used to refer to the ambiguity arising from homonyms because of the similarity in
spelling and/or enunciation. A very famous example is the sentence I’ll meet you by the
bank, which may mean ‘I’ll meet you by the financial institution’ or ‘I’ll meet you by the
riverside’. Therefore, the word bank that means embankment and the word bank that
means riverside are the cause behind this ambiguity (Fromkin et al. 2003:180). Another
example that is a famous riddle is the following (Hartmann and Stork 1976:105):
1- Q. What is black and white and // all over?
A. A newspaper.
The words red (a colour) and read (past participle of read) are the ones that create
the ambiguity in the sentence because of their identical articulation.
Allan (1986: 151) states that homonymy is not a relationship limited to words.
The constituent lexeme and morpheme in wants are ambiguous between the noun lexeme
"want + plural" morpheme on the one hand, and the verb lexeme "want + 3rd person
singular subject agreement" morpheme on the other. Consider the textual disambiguation
in the following sentences:
2- His wants are few.
3- He wants for nothing.
Note that despite the similarity in meaning between the noun want and the verb
want, they are of dissimilar lexical classes and therefore count as different lexemes —i.e.,
as meaningfully distinct expressions. Moving up to a higher level expression, the
following sentence is ambiguous:
4- Jimmy says he hates boring students.
 Once again, context will normally clarify whether it is Jimmy or the students who
is/are boring. Note the importance in this example of syntactic relations in resolving the
ambiguity when comparing He hates boring students versus He hates students who are
boring. The homonymy is between the noun phrase boring students that consist of
participial attributive plus its head noun, and the embedded participial clause boring
students that is a nonfinite verb and its object. It is the context of the particular utterance
that will determine for the hearer which of these is intended (Allan 1986: 151).
Accordingly, it is believed that ambiguity can be solved in speech because
normally in context one’s intention when using homonymous words is quite
unambiguous since additional context can help to disambiguate the sentence (Lass
1998:29 and Riggs 1999:6). Hence, the sentence I’ll meet you by the bank, can be
clarified in the following way:
5- I’ll meet you by the bank, in front of the automated teller machine.
6- I’ll meet you by the bank. We can go skinny-dipping. (Fromkin et al. 2003:180)
Other ambiguous sentences can be avoided prosodically by using stress. For
instance, the noun phrase the Bolivian silver tray, can be handled in the following way
(Allan 1986:152):
7- a- the Bolivian SILVER tray (the tray for Bolivian sliver)
b- the Bolivian silver TRAY (the tray made of Bolivian sliver)
c- the BOLIVIAN silver TRAY (the silver tray from Bolivia)
Palmer (1984: 101-2) indicates that some homonyms create ambiguity because
they have antonymous meanings. For instance, cleave (unite) vs. cleave (sever) and raise
(construct) and raze (destroy).
In addition to the problem of ambiguity many spelling problems may occur.
Thus, glossary of usage is found in some books to identify and distinguish between many
common homonyms (Watkins et al. 2001:296).

Reasons of Creating Homonymy

Homonyms may occur because of a change in pronunciation and/or spelling.
There are different reasons that cause these dissimilarities. Consider the following points:
1- Change in enunciation due to the great English vowel shift, for example the
homophones sea and see where once pronounced as // and // respectively (Allan
1986:152).
2- Sometimes, an extension in the meaning of a word can lead to establishing homonymy.
The words flower and flour that are pronounced as // where originally
related in meaning. The word flour originally meant ‘flower of the meal’ i.e. the finest
part of the meal and the word flower originally meant ‘the finest part of the plant’
(Palmer 1984:102-3).
3- Euphemisms may cause homonymous words. For instance, the word bull may mean
‘male, bovine animal’ or ‘rubbish’—the second sense is a euphemism of bullshit.
4- There are differences or similarities in pronunciation that occur because of differences
in dialects or varieties of a language that lead to homonyms. For example, in the north of
England, the words look and luck are pronounced as //; Paul, paw, pore, poor are
pronounced as // in Cockney (Gramley and Pätzold 1992:88-9). Also, words like
vest, biscuit, and corn may have different meanings in British as against American
English. Finally, in jargon, words as sugar, grass, and score are homonymous with
Standard English words (Allan 1986:152).
5- Some homophones may be established because the words have weak forms, for
instance, the word that can be articulated as // and // in which the first is a
demonstrative pronoun, whereas the second is the weak form of the subordinate
conjunction that (Ladefoged 2006:108).
In rapid speech, confusion may arise through the difficulty in distinguishing
between function words which have the same phonetic shape when they occur in
unstressed context (Wright 1973: 37-8). He (ibid.) lists some of these forms of confusion.
For instance:
Are, a, her, or, and occasionally of are pronounced as .
8- “The days are long.     ”
9- “She put on a hat.     ”
10- “She put on her hat.     ” (ibid.)
Other examples are Have and of that appear as :
11- “The boys have eaten fish. /    / ”
12- “Which of you finished? /   /” (ibid.)
6- Contractions of some words like it’s/its, you’re/your, they’re/their, and who’s/whose
can be also a reason behind the creation of homonyms (Watkins et al. 2001:280).
7- Homonyms may arise from zero derivation, the nouns catch and work are from the
homonymous verbs; and nouns like black and oral from the homonymous adjectives.
8- In some cases, abbreviations may be the reason behind the appearance of homonyms.
Examples are MP (member of parliaments) or (military police) and the clipped word fan
(from fanatic) and the word fan (cooling apparatus) (Stageberg 1981:123).
It is worth to mention that when some words have taboo homonyms, their original
meanings have gradually been dropped from the language and they have kept the
extended sense. An example of such words is gay that lost the meaning ‘bright, full of
fun’ and kept the other sense, i.e., ‘homosexual’ which is thought to be an extension of
the previous meaning— probably because of the belief that the homosexual males dress
more gaily (=brightly) than straight males (Allan 1986: 153).

Homonymy in Arabic
Definitions of Homonymy
Homonymy in Arabic is known as ‫ االشتراك أو المشترك أللفظي‬or ‫المتجانس‬
‫ أللفظي‬or ‫المتشابه أللفظي‬. Also, homonyms are called ‫ الوجوه والنظائر‬in the holy
Qur’an (Al-Dhamin 66 :1990 ‫)الضامن‬. In philology, Al-Salih ‫( الصالح‬1968:302, Al-
Khuli 2001:141 ‫الخولي‬, and Mansur 2009:1‫ )منصور‬define homonymy as a word or a
sentence that has one articulation (or form) and more than one meaning. For example, the
word ‫ سن‬has one articulation whether it means age or tooth; and ‫ دقيق‬which means
flour, precise, and thin. An instance of homonymy from the holy Qur’an is " ‫فال رفث وال‬
‫ "فسوق وال جدال في الحج‬in which ‫ رفث‬may mean to have intercourse or to say dirty
words.
Homonymy is a controversial subject among Arab linguists. In one hand, some
linguists, such as Ibn Dorstoya ‫ابن ُدُر ْس َتَويه‬, deny the existence of this phenomenon as
they claim that only one of its meanings is real (physical) and the rest are metaphorical.
For instance, the word ‫ وجد‬has several meanings like to find, anger, to love, etc. They
declare that “One may think this word has several meanings but actually all these
meaning are related to one thing.” On the other hand, other linguists, like Al Kheleel bin
Ahmed ‫الخليل بن أحمد‬, Sibawayh ‫ سبويه‬, and Abu Zeid‫ ابو زيد‬, agree on its existence in
the Arabic language.

Types of Homonyms
Homonyms in Arabic can be divided into the following types:
1- Homonymic words that have two meanings. For example, ‫( قدم‬part of body) or (unit
of length). Another example is ‫( لسان‬organ of body) and (language) (Al-Khuli 2001:
143-4).
2- Homonymic words that have multiple meanings. Such words in Arabic are ‫ فصول‬that
has the meanings (chapters of a book), (seasons of year), (semesters in school), (acts of a
play), etc. Another example is the word ‫( عين‬hole in a needle), (eye of man),
(fountainhead), (spy), etc. (Al Khuli 2001:143). The word ‫ صدى‬has the meanings (echo),
(extreme thirst), (to preserve money), etc. (Ibn Jinni 2008 ‫ابن جني‬a: 459). Also,‫ بأس‬has
the meanings (dread), (bravery), (torture), (power), (battle) (Waffi 3-292 :1957 ‫ وافي‬and
Atlas 2007). A well-known example that has more than thirty meanings is the word ‫حوب‬
which may mean sin, sister, daughter, need, sadness, haughtiness, heart softness Ye’koob
)178 :1999( ‫يعقوب‬.
3- Homonymic words that have a relation in meaning. For instance, in Arabic, the word
‫ يد‬may mean part of body and power; and the word ‫ ذراع‬has the meanings organ in body
and unit of measurement. This kind is actually known as polysemy in English (Al Khuli
2001:143 and Umer4-1982:63 ‫)عمر‬.
4- Homonymic words that have no relation in meaning. The word ‫ قرن‬may mean the
horns of an animal or a hundred years. The word ‫ وجد‬which has no relation between its
meanings that are to detest someone or to know. Another example is‫( قال‬to say from
‫ )يقول‬and (to fire somebody from ‫( )يقيل‬Al Khuli 2001: 143).
5- A unique kind of homonymy in which the pronunciation is the same while the writing
is different, i.e., homophony, is found in Arabic. Instances of this type are ‫( يحيا‬to live)
‫( يحيى‬name of a person) another example is:
13- ‫رأيت الناس قد ذهبوا‬

‫إلى من عنده ذهُب‬

‫رأيت الناس قد مالوا‬
‫إلى من عنده ماُل‬

In which ‫ ذهبوا‬means ‘went’ and ‫ ذهُب‬is ‘gold’; ‫ مالوا‬means ‘incline’ and ‫ ماُل‬is ‘money’
)Nasir AlDeen 2010: 3(.
6- Homonyms created because of shift in application
Sometimes, a word has different senses according to the field or specialization it is used
in. In Arabic, a word like ‫( عملية‬operation) may mean surgical operation, action, agency,
execution, or maneuver. The word ‫( جدار‬wall) has the meanings cell wall, counter scrub,
firewall, pier (Waffi 1957:294 and Umer 1982:164-6).
7- Homonyms that have identical present and past participle
The present and past participle that have the rhythm (‫ )افتعل‬in Arabic for words such as
‫ ُمْس تن‬,‫ ُمْعتد‬,‫ ُمْعتاد‬,‫ ُمْختار‬and the rhythm (‫ )انفعل‬in words like ‫ ُمنّح ل‬are identical in
enunciation and writing (Ibn Jinni 2008b: 17-8).
8- Homonyms that have the same singular and plural forms
Examples of these homonyms are ‫ ُفْلك‬and ‫( ِدالص‬as in ‫ درع ِدالص‬and ‫( )أدرع ِدالص‬Ibn
Jinni 2008a: 464)

Homonymy and Synonymy

Actually, homonymy is different from synonymy although both are relations between
words. Generally, homonymy is a word that has more than one meaning, whereas
synonymy denotes two or more words that have approximately the same meaning (Al
Dersoni 1 :2010 ‫)الدرسوني‬. For instance, the homonymic word ‫ خال‬means either uncle
(mother’s brother) or mole (in the body), to think or doubt something, or clouds (Al-
Dhamin 1990: 66). Instances of synonymous words are:
14- ‫ قرأ‬,‫ = تال‬to read
15- ‫ أْقَسَم‬, ‫ = َح َلَف‬to swear (Yousif 2009:1 ‫)يوسف‬
16- ‫ أريحية‬,‫ جود‬, ‫ سخاء‬,‫ سماحة‬, ‫كرم‬,‫ = بذل‬generosity
17- ‫ يرى‬,‫ يبصر‬,‫ يعاين‬,‫ = يشاهد‬to see
18- ‫ سنة‬,‫ حول‬,‫ = عام‬year
19- ‫ مسرور‬,‫ محبور‬,‫ فرح‬,‫ جذل‬,‫ = مستبشر‬happy (Al Dersoni 2010: 1)

Antonymous Homonyms
In some cases, homonyms have two antonymous meanings. Thus, such words create great
problems in communication in Arabic. Consider the following examples of antonymous
homonyms in Arabic (Al Khuli 2001: 144-5):
20- ‫ = جون‬black, white
21- ‫ = صريم‬day, night
22- ‫ = بسل‬forbidden, unforbidden
23- ‫ = سليم‬uninjured, stung
24- ‫ = ابيض‬white, black
25- ‫ = بصير‬blind, sighted
26- ‫ = وراء‬front, rear
27- ‫ = حّلق‬fly, sink
28- ‫ = وَثب‬jump, sit
29- ‫ = طاعم‬to feed somebody, to be fed (Al-Salih 1968: 310)
It is important to discriminate between antonymy and antonymous homonymy which is
one kind of antonymy in Arabic. The former occurs with two words that have opposite
meanings, e.g. ‫( يبيع‬sell) and ‫( يشتري‬buy); and ‫( سهل‬easy) and ‫( صعب‬difficult), while
the latter occurs with one word that has two reverse meanings (ibid.: 303) and (Al-
Dhamin 1990: 72).

Reasons of Creating Homonymy

There are many reasons behind creating homonymous words in Arabic. They are as
follows:
1- Economy
Because of the development in all fields of life, the number of words’ senses is more than
the number of words themselves. One cannot create new words for every new sense that
appears. For this reason, one adds new senses to the existing lexemes, e.g. the word
‫( طائرة‬plain) exists in Arabic before the invention of the plain. It was used previously
to refer to birds. After the creation of the plain, the word ‫ طائرة‬gains its new sense.
Similarly, the words ‫( سيارة‬car), ‫( قطار‬train), and ‫( هاتف‬phone) have gained new senses
after their creation. Accordingly, homonymy is an economic method in which one can
limit the number of words and enhance the number of senses (Al Khuli 2001: 146-7).
2- Ambiguity
Homonymy is used deliberately for the purpose of arising ambiguity. This is related to
rhetorical reasons and for having excitement in communication. For example:
‫وأقعد فأنت الطاعم الكاسي‬ ‫دع المكارم ال ترحل لبغيتها‬30-
Here, the word ‫ الطاعم‬means (to be fed) and not the apparent meaning (to feed). In a
similar way, the word ‫ الكاسي‬means (to be coated or dressed) and does not mean (to coat
somebody).
Another example is:
‫لقاء الموت عندهم األديب‬ ‫ أصون أديم وجهي عن أناس‬31-
‫ولو وفى به لهم حبيب‬ ‫ورب الشعر عندهم بغيض‬
The word ‫ حبيب‬here may mean (beloved) or (name of a person) (Al Jaghoob ‫الجاغوب‬
1 :2009).
3- Metaphorical Reasons
Sometimes there are regional, partial, and causative reasons behind using the second
meaning of the homonym. In most cases, the meaning of the homonym can be sensual
and physical in which the sensual meaning is the original one (Al-Dhamin 1990: 69).
Examples of such homonyms are (Al Dersoni 2010: 4):
32- ‫ = إثم‬sin, wine
33- ‫ = مصر‬state of Egypt, Egyptian people
34- ‫ = فارة‬mouse, jointer of the carpenter (‫)مسحاج‬, mouse of computer (Ownn 2005:
127)
35- ‫ = ظعينة‬howdah (‫)هودج‬, woman, camel
36- ‫ = ذقن‬chin, beard
37- ‫ = افن‬shortage in the camel milk, mental deficiency
38- ‫ = مجد‬stomach surfeit of animals, extreme generosity
39- ‫ = وغى‬fuss in war, war
40- ‫ = عقيقه‬newly born hair, animal slain when hair is shaved (Waffi 1957: 293)
4- Difference in Derivation
The Arabic word ‫ قال‬is a homonym that means (said from ‫ )يقول‬and (napped from
‫) قيلولة‬. Another example is ‫( ضاع‬past tense of lose) and (past tense of spread
fragrance). As such derivation sometimes causes homonymous words (Yekoob 1999:
181) (Al Khuli 2001: 147).
5- Politeness
In some cases, people use homonymic words to indicate a positive as well as a negative
sense. For instance, instead of saying ‫محمد مهدي األعمى‬, it is more polite to say ‫محمد‬
‫ مهدي البصير‬in which the word ‫ البصير‬denotes either being sighted or blind, here is used
instead of ‫( أعمى‬blind) (ibid.).
6- Euphemism
Euphemism is similar to politeness, but is more general in application. Politeness is
personal, whilst euphemism is related to the society. The expression ‫دول العالم الثالث‬
was earlier called ‫الدول المتأخرة‬, after that it was changed to ‫دول قليلة النمو‬, this phrase
became ‫ الدول النامية‬in which ‫ ناٍم‬means advanced and old fashioned. The second sense
is meant in the final expression (ibid.).
7- Sarcasm
Unlike the case with politeness, some homonyms are used for the sake of sarcasm. One
may use the positive sense of the word to give an ironic sense, for instance the word
‫ فصيح‬is sometimes used to mean the opposite of eloquent (ibid.).
8- Differences in Dialects
A word may mean X in the language or in a specific dialect and the same word means Y
in another dialect, in this way, the word will have two senses (X and Y) in the standard
language. Thus, when dictionaries were created, all the senses of the word were included
in the dictionaries. Among the examples that are known of this kind of homonyms are
‫ العجوز‬which may mean old woman or man, needle, ground, rabbit, lion, sea, hero, cow,
ox, hunger, war, wine, tent, life, sun, etc. (Abdul Tawab 326 :1999 ‫ ;عبد التواب‬Yekoob
1999:180; and Al-Dhamin 1990: 68). Also, similarly the word ‫( الم‬pain) and ‫ = الم‬pen in
the Egyptian dialect (Umer 1982: 167).
9- Optimism
A word may have several meanings due to optimism. The word ‫ مفازة‬that basically
means a place of victory, gains another sense that is desert. Justifying the reason behind
such use is to create a sense of optimism to the person who wants to cross a desert (Al
Khuli 2001: 148).
10- Homonyms created due to shift in articulation
When two words that are different in articulation and writing had undergone change in
articulation which led to become similar in enunciation, this led to become homonyms. In
Arabic, the word ‫ الفروة‬means either sclap or affluence in which ‘affluence’ comes from
‫ الثروة‬the letter ‫ ث‬of ‫ ثروة‬was replaced by ‫( ف‬Abdul Tawab 1999:332) and (Yekoob
1999:180). The word ‫( سائل‬liquid from ‫)سال‬, and ‫( سائل‬asker from ‫ )سأل‬and ‫سائل‬
(beggar from ‫ )سأل‬is a well-known example of such kind of homonymy (Umer
1982:166-7 and Al Baalbaki 2005:615).
11- Borrowing words from other languages
Borrowing words (as they are) that are similar to others in the original language can also
cause homonymous words. For instance, borrowing the word ‫( كلب‬kalb) from Germany
into Arabic leads to creating a homonym with the word ‫( كلب‬dog). Another example is
‫ سور‬from Persia which means city wall or hospitality that was used first by the Prophet
(Abdul Tawab 1999: 331).
12- Using the peculiar reference of the word in addition to its general meaning and vice
versa.
In Islam, especially in religious rituals, there are thousands of words that have gained
their meanings throughout this way. Consider the following words (Al-Salih 1968: 305
and Waffi 1975: 292):
Words that Gained Specific Meanings in addition to their General Meanings
(Waffi 1957: 292)
word General meaning Specific meaning
‫صالة‬ supplication prayer

‫حج‬ pilgrimage to a particular hajj to Mecca

(holy) place

‫صوم‬ seize eating fasting in Islamic religion

‫مؤمن‬ to believe in something believer in Allah

‫كافر‬ ungrateful a disbeliever in Allah

‫منافق‬ hypocrite a disbeliever who pretends

to be a believer

‫رث‬ dastard, mean, etc. worthless thing

Examples of words that have obtained general reference in addition to their
specific reference are ‫ باس‬,‫ حوة‬,‫ نجعة‬,‫ رائد‬,‫( ِورد‬ibid.: 239).
Homonymy and Ambiguity
In Arabic, there are two sorts of ambiguity— lexical and syntactic. In one hand, lexical
ambiguity occurs because the sentence contains a word which has more than one meaning
that causes the ambiguity. The sentences: (Al Khuli 2001: 148-150)
41- 1 ‫ )رايته عن كثب‬To see somebody or something closely.
2) To see somebody or something from a long distance.
42- 1 ‫ )ان األمر لجلل‬The matter is big.
2) The matter is trivial. (ibid.)
In the previous sentences, the reason behind ambiguity is that the two sentences
encompass homonyms that have antonymous meanings.
On the other hand, syntactic ambiguity – the second type of ambiguity – arises
from the grammatical construction of the sentence. For example:
43- 1 ‫ )مساعدة الوالدين‬help that is given from parents.
2)help that is given to parents.
44- 1 ‫ )إعانة الدولة‬aid given from the state.
2) aid given to the state.
The ambiguity here is owning to the syntactic construction (infinitive + noun) in which
the infinitive is derived from a transitive verb (ibid.: 151). It is worth mentioning that
ambiguity in such cases does not always occur. If one adds an animate noun to an
infinitive, the ambiguity will arise, whereas if the noun that is added to the infinitive is
inanimate, (e.g. ‫ )تنظيف البيت‬there will be no ambiguity.
Other examples of syntactic ambiguity are:
45- 1 ‫ )التعاون الجماعي‬co-operation between one group and another.
2) co-operation between individuals inside the same group.
46- 1 ‫)اتجاهات مستقبلية‬trends towards the future.
2) trends that will happen in the future.
The reason of this ambiguity in meaning is due to the syntactic relation—
substantive (noun + adjective) (ibid.: 154). Rephrasing the ambiguous sentence, adding
extra information. The context can also solve the problem of ambiguity in such examples.
For instance, the word ‫ ضرب‬has many senses in different contexts. Consider the
following sentences (Ownn 2005:151-2):
47- ‫ = ضرب زيٌد عمرًا‬to punish
48- ‫ = ضرب الله مثال‬to mention
49- ‫ = ضرب له قبة‬to erect
50- ‫ = ضرب العملة‬to coin
51- ‫ = ضرب له موعد‬to assign
52- ‫ = ضرب في األرض‬to seek or go about
53- ‫ = ضرب خمسة في ستة‬to multiply
54- ‫ = ضرب أخماس بأسداس‬to be confused

Homonymy and Pun

Pun or ‘paronomasia’ (‫ )الجناس‬is defined as two words that are the same in
pronunciation but are different in meaning. In Arabic, it is generally divided into verbal (
‫ )جناس لفظي‬and lexical (‫( )جناس معنوي‬Mahjoob 4 :2008 ‫محجوب‬, Matloob ‫مطلوب‬,
and Al-Baseer450 :1999 ‫)البصير‬. The similarities and differences between homonymy
and pun are illustrated briefly in the following points:
1- Pun is a literary term that is used frequently by literary writers ‘especially poets’ for
purposes like creating humour, musical effect, attracting attention, aesthetical purposes,
etc, whereas homonymy is a linguistic term which is used in linguistics.
2- Homonymy is a word that has various meanings, whilst pun refers to two words that
are different in meaning.
3- The first type of pun— verbal pun— has a branch which is called ‘complete pun’ (
‫)جناس تام‬. It referes to two words that are alike in letters, number, their vowel points,
and in arrangement. This sort of pun is identical with homonymy. For instance, ‘ ‫يوم تقوم‬
‫’الساعة يقسم المجرمون ما لبثوا غير ساعة‬. The first ‫ ساعة‬means doomsday, while the
second ‫ ساعة‬refers to an hour of time. Other examples of complete pun are:
55- ‫صليت المغرب في احد مساجد المغرب‬
56- ‫يقيني بالله يقيني‬
57-)1: ‫إرضهم ما دمت في أرضهم (المحسنات البديعية‬
4- The second kind of verbal pun that is known as incomplete pun ( ‫ )جناس ناقص‬is
defined as two words that are different in one major factor— letters, number, diacritics,
and in arrangement— thus this kind of pun is similar to homography. For example ‫( َج د‬to
work hard, from ‫يجد‬, and grandfather) and ‫( ِج د‬diligence); ‫( ساَعد‬to help) and ‫ساِع د‬
(forearm); ‫( َداللة‬leading) and ‫( ِداللة‬fee) (Ownn 2005:137); and ‫( بر‬obedience) as in ‫بر‬
‫الوالدين عبادة‬, sincerity as in ‫بر يمينك يامتهم‬, and accept as in ‫بر الله دعاءه ذلك المظلوم‬
(Nasir AlDeen 2010: 6(.
5- One kind of verbal pun is known as pronounced pun ( ‫ )جناس تلفظي‬which refers to
two words that have the same enunciation and different spelling and meaning. For
example:
58-‫أعذب خلق الله نطقا وفما‬
‫أن لم يكن أحق بالحسن فمن‬
This type of pun is similar to the kind of homonymy that is rarely found in Arabic (Nasir
AlDeen 2 :2010 ‫)ناصر الدين‬.
6- Pun is classified into: (1) verbal pun which is in tern subdivided into complete,
incomplete, absolute, tail, present, successive…etc. (2) lexical pun is subdivided into
elliptical pun and referential pun (Nasir AlDeen 2010: 1-2)
Hence pun is classified into many different categories under which many others follow,
whereas homonymy is not divided into many types.
The Semantic Concept of Triangle (‫ )داللة مصطلح المثلث‬or Short Vowel Triangle
In Arabic linguistics, ‘triangle of language’ refers to three words that are identical in
spelling, but are different in diacritics in which changing the vowel points will lead to a
change in meaning. Hence, these three words are homographs. Words that are related to
this triangle are nouns and verbs (Dawood 2001:27). The Arabic language has many
homographic words. Some of them are related to this triangle.
In nouns, changing the vowel point may occur on the first, second, or third letter.
Rarely, the diacritic change may occur on the fourth letter. Moreover, the change of
vowel points may happen in the first and second letters together or the first and the third
letters together (ibid.).
In verbs, the diacritics change may mostly take place on the second letter of the
verb (‫ )عين الفعل‬or it may transfer to the first letter, that is ( ‫ )فاء الفعل‬in case of
geminated verb (‫ )فعل مضعف‬and empty verb (‫( )الفعل األجوف‬ibid.).
The triangle is divided into two types— one meaning triangle and multiple
meaning triangle. The first kind is not our concern in this study. The second kind is
divided into the following branches (ibid.):
1-change of vowel point on the first graph which is common in nouns:
59- ‫علي حبه ُج نة‬
‫قسيم النار والَج نة‬
‫أمام األنس والِج نة‬
The first ‫ ُج نة‬means shelter, the second ‫ الَج نة‬means heaven, and the third ‫ الِج نة‬means the
jinn.
2- change of vowel point on the second graph which is common in verbs:
60- ‫ = َقَدَم القوم‬He became in front of them.
‫ = قِدَم الرجل من سفره‬He came back or it may also mean somebody went deliberately
towards something.
‫ = قُدَم الشيء‬It became old or tattered (ibid.).
3- change of vowel point on the third letter. This kind is rare:
61- ‫( ُمْس َعط‬object) 1)to make somebody smell something on purpose.
 2) to stab somebody on his nose.
3) to exaggerate in teaching somebody.
‫( ُمْس ِعط‬subject of the previous meanings)
‫( ُمْس ُعط‬plate used for sneezing)(ibid.)
4- change of vowel point on the first and the second graph. These words are not many:
62- ‫ = األَبُد‬along period of time

‫ = اإلبُد‬to have children from slave girls

‫ = األُبُد‬plural of (‫ )أُبود‬being always angry
5- change of vowel point on the first and the third graph. These words are few:
63- ‫ = َعْج رَمَة‬to run fast
‫ = ِع ْج رِمة‬a short chubby woman
‫ = ُعُْج رمة‬singular of ‫ ُعْج ُر م‬which is a kind of trees
6- change of vowel point on the fourth letter. This kind is very rare. The only example
known is ‫ ِتفاوت‬,‫ َتفاوت‬, ‫( ُتفاوت‬ibid.).

Types of Homographs
In Arabic, homographs are words that have the same orthographic form though their
pronunciation is different due to the use of diacritics. Hence, homographs create a
problem in Arabic. This problem is related to many factors (Attia 2006: 2-3). Among
them are:
1- Assimilation and deletion frequently produce reflected forms that can belong to two or
more different words. For instance:
64- ‫ = ُيِعد‬bring back (‫)أعاد‬
‫ = َيُعد‬return (‫)عاد‬
‫ = َيِعد‬promise (‫)وَعد‬

‫ = َيُعّد‬count (‫)ّعد‬
‫ = ُيِعّد‬prepare (‫)اّعد‬
2- Doubled sound that does not appear in writing, and thus, creates similar forms. For
instance:
65- ‫ = عِلم‬know (‫)َيْعلم‬
‫ = عّلم‬teach (‫)ُيّعّلم‬
3- Active, passive and imperative forms cause problem in Arabic because their
inflectional operation underlie a slight change in articulation without any explicit
orthographical effect owing to lack of short vowels (diacritics). For example:
66- ‫ = أرُس ل‬send (‫( )ُيرِس ل‬active)
‫ = أرِس ل‬was sent (passive)
‫ = أْر ِس ل‬send (imperative)
4- Some suffixes and prefixes can be homographic which will create a problem of
ambiguity. Notice how the suffix and prefix (‫ )ت‬create ambiguity in the following
example:
67- 1 ‫تكتب‬- She writes.
2- You (male) write.

‫ َكَتْبُت‬-1 ‫ = كتبت‬I wrote.

2- ‫ = َكَتْبَت‬You (male) wrote.
3- ‫ = َكَتبِت‬You (female) wrote.
4- ‫ = َكَتَبْت‬She wrote.
Similarly, the dual is always confused with the plural in the accusative case. For instance:
68- ‫ = أمريكَيين‬two Americans (dual)
‫ = أمريكيين‬more than two Americans (plural)
5- Prefixes and suffixes may cause a problem with lexemes because of having the same
orthograph:
69- ‫ = أُس ّد‬I block
‫ = ˚أَس د‬lion
6- Clitics (“a word that cannot exist in isolation, but which needs to be attached to
another word”) (Spencer 1996: 179) can accidently produce a form that is homographic
with another full word. For instance:
70- ‫ = علمي‬scientific
‫ = علمي‬my knowledge (‫ ي‬+ ‫)علم‬
7- Some words that are uninflected are homographic originally. They may or may not
have the same enunciation. For instance:
71- ‫ = ˚َذَهب‬gold

‫ = َذَهَب‬went (‫)يذهب‬
Homonymy in English and Arabic: Conclusions
1- Originally, in English the word homonymy is divided into homophony and
homography, whereas this term is translated as ‫ المشترك اللفظي‬in Arabic which refers
to a word that has one articulation and more than one meaning.
2- The definition of homonymy in Arabic is similar to the definition of polysemy in
English, i.e. they are considered to be one. The difference between them is that
homonyms in Arabic may have a relation or no relation in their meanings, while
polysems in English have a relation in meaning. Hence, the two types of homonyms, i.e.,
those that have a relation in meaning and those that do not, are not found in English.
3- Some Arab linguists believe that homonymy does not exist in Arabic because they
think that homonymic words have one real meaning while the rest are metaphorical.
4- Homonymy is defined differently in English while in Arabic there is an agreement
among linguists on its definition.
5- The types of homonyms in English are complete, partial, word homonyms, homonyms
of words form, lexical homonyms, and grammatical homonyms, while the types of
homonymy in Arabic are those that have only two meanings, multiple meanings, a
relation in meaning no relation in meaning, homonyms created because of shift in
application, homonyms created due to shift in articulation, and those that have identical
present and past participle.
6- Some of the reasons behind creating homonyms in both languages are identical. They
are the development in enunciation, difference in derivation, euphemism, differences in
dialects, metaphorical reasons, and extension in the meaning of the word.
7- Some of the reasons of the creation of homonyms in English are weak forms,
contractions, abbreviations, and taboo, whilst in Arabic they are economy, ambiguity,
politeness, sarcasm, and optimism.
8- The Arabic language is a homographic language unlike English. Many words in
Arabic including those that are related to the triangle of language are homographs. In
fact, homography is part of homonymy in English whereas it is not deemed as part of
homonymy in Arabic.
9- In Arabic, mostly there is a match between the graphs and sounds, whilst English has
no match in most cases. Thus, homophones like ‫( يحيى‬name of a person) and ‫( يحيا‬to
live) are rare in Arabic.
10- In Arabic, homonyms have tens of meanings, whereas in English the number may not
exceed five senses.
11- Arabic has many antonymous homonyms but these are rare in English. for instance,
cleave (to sever) and (to unite) and raise (to build) and raze (to destroy).
12- Homonymy is used heavily by poets and writers in Arabic, since it has a relation to
some of the types of pun and allusion (‫)التورية‬, metaphor (‫ )المجاز‬in which it is used for
purposes like creating humour, musical effect, attracting attention, aesthetical purposes,
playing on words to create beauty etc.
13- Complete pun (‫ )جناس تام‬is a branch of verbal pun. It denotes two words that are
alike in letters, number, their vowel points, and in arrangement. This sort of pun is
identical with homonymy.
14- Incomplete pun (‫ )جناس ناقص‬is the second branch of verbal pun. It is defined as two
words that are different in one major factor— letters, number, diacritics, and in
arrangement— thus this kind of pun is similar to homography.
15- Pronounced pun ( ‫ )جناس تلفظي‬is one kind of verbal pun which refers to two words
that have the same enunciation and different spelling and meaning.
16- Pun is classified into: (1) verbal pun which is in term subdivided into complete,
incomplete, absolute, tail, present, successive, … etc. (2) lexical pun is subdivided into
elliptical pun and referential pun.
Hence pun is classified into many different categories under which many others follow,
whereas homonymy is not divided into many types.
17- In both languages, the phenomenon of homonymy creates ambiguity that is lexical
and syntactic.

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‫المصادر العربية‬

‫ابن جني‪ ،‬أبي الفتح عثمان‪ .a2008 .‬الخصائص ‪.‬تح د‪ .‬عبد الحميد هنداوي‪ .‬المجلد ‪.1‬‬
‫العلمية‪.‬‬ ‫بيروت‪ :‬دار الكتب‬

‫ابن ج‪vv‬ني‪ ،‬أبي الفتح عثم‪vv‬ان‪ .b2008 .‬الخص‪vv‬ائص ‪.‬تح د‪ .‬عب‪vv‬د الحمي‪vv‬د هن‪vv‬داوي‪ .‬المجل‪vv‬د ‪.3‬‬
‫العلمية‪.‬‬ ‫بيروت‪ :‬دار الكتب‬

‫البعلبكي‪ ،‬روحي‪ .2005 .‬المورد‪ :‬قاموس عربي‪-‬انكليزي‪ .‬بيروت‪ :‬دار العلم للماليين‬

‫الجاغوب‪ ،‬محمد‪ .2009.‬اللغة العربية‪ :‬خصائصها وجمالياتها‪.‬‬

‫‪– pulpit.alwatanvoice.com/content-165957.html‬‬
‫الخولي‪ ،‬محمد علي‪ .2001 .‬علم الداللة‪ :‬علم المعنى‪ .‬عمان‪ :‬دار الفالح للنشر والتوزيع‪.‬‬

‫داود‪ ،‬محمد محمد‪ .2001 .‬الصوائت والمعنى في العربية‪ :‬دراسة داللية ومعجم‪ .‬الق‪vv‬اهرة‪:‬‬
‫للطباعة والنشر والتوزيع‪.‬‬ ‫دار غريب‬

‫الدرسوني‪ ،‬سليمان ناصر‪ .2010 .‬االختالف حول وجود الترادف في اللغة‪.‬‬

‫الص‪vv‬الح‪ ،‬ص‪vv‬بحي‪ .1986 .‬دراس‪vv‬ات في فق‪vv‬ه اللغ‪vv‬ة‪ .‬الطبع‪vv‬ة الثالث‪vv‬ة‪ .‬ب‪vv‬يروت‪ :‬دار العلم‬
‫للماليين‪.‬‬

‫الضامن‪ ،‬حاتم صالح‪ . 1990 .‬فقه اللغة‪ .‬بغداد‪ .‬مطبعة جامعة بغداد‬

‫عبد التواب‪ ،‬رمضان‪ .1999 .‬فص‪vv‬ول في فق‪vv‬ه اللغ‪vv‬ة‪ .‬الطبع‪vv‬ة السادس‪vv‬ة‪ .‬الق‪vv‬اهرة ‪.‬مكتب‪vv‬ة‬
‫الخانجي‪.‬‬

‫عمر‪ ،‬احمد مختار‪ .1982 .‬علم الداللة‪ .‬مكتبة دار العروبة للنشر والتوزيع‪ .‬الكويت‪ :‬مكتب‪vv‬ة‬
‫للنشر والتوزيع‪.‬‬ ‫دار العروبة‬

‫عون‪ ،‬نسيم‪ .2005 .‬األلسنية‪ :‬محاضرات في علم الداللة‪ .‬بيروت‪ :‬دار الفارابي‪.‬‬

‫محجوب‪ ،‬حسن محمد حس‪vv‬ن‪. 2008.‬مص‪vv‬طلح الثنائي‪vv‬ات الص‪vv‬غرى أم الجن‪vv‬اس في مج‪vv‬ال‬

‫تعليم األصوات لغ‪v‬ير الع‪v‬رب‪ -‬دراس‪v‬ة ناق‪vv‬دة‪ .‬أطروح‪vv‬ة دكت‪vv‬وراه‪ .‬جامع‪v‬ة أم الق‪v‬رى‪ :‬مك‪vv‬ة‬
‫المكرمة‪.‬‬

‫مطلوب‪ ،‬أحمد و البصير‪ ،‬كامل حسن‪ .1999 .‬البالغة والتطبيق‪ .‬الطبعة الثانية‪ .‬بغداد‪.‬‬

‫منصور‪ .2009 ،‬االختالف وما يخل بالقطع‪.‬‬

‫ديوان الشخصية اإلسالمية › قسم الثقافة العامة‬ ‫‪› ... › www.alokab.com‬‬

‫ناصر الدين‪ ،‬سعد‪ .2010 .‬الجناس‪.‬‬

‫‪http://www.etteyssir.com/spip.php?article433‬‬
‫وافي‪ ،‬علي عبد الواحد‪ .1957 .‬علم اللغة‪ .‬الطبع‪vv‬ة الرابع‪vv‬ة‪ .‬الق‪vv‬اهرة‪ :‬مكتب‪vv‬ة نهض‪vv‬ة نص‪vv‬ر‬
‫بالفجالة‪.‬‬

‫يعقوب‪ ،‬إميل بديع‪ .1999 .‬فقه اللغ‪vv‬ة العربي‪vv‬ة وخصائص‪vv‬ها‪ .‬الطبع‪vv‬ة الثاني‪vv‬ة‪ .‬الموص‪vv‬ل‪ :‬دار‬
‫والنشر‪.‬‬ ‫الكتب للطباعة‬

‫يوسف‪ ،‬محمد فهمي‪ .2009 .‬الترادف في اللغة العربية‪.‬‬

‫‪- www.al3ez.net/vb/printthread.php?t=27373‬‬