Taxonomy of Wordplay

Part of The rec.puzzles Archive · Language: English. Have a puzzle question? Ask the rec.puzzles Oracle.

Contents | previous: Pronunciation: homophones | next: Pronunciation: Miscellaneous

1. homographs (words spelled the same but pronounced differently)
1. different pronunciations, most
1. homonym-heteronym hybrid (alike in sound in one syllable, and in spelling but not sound in the other)
2. capitonym (word that changes pronunciation when capitalized)
1. capitonym sentence pair (parallel sentences using the same words first as proper nouns, then as common nouns)
3. plural
4. stress homographs
5. fooler (same-root homograph pronounced differently in another inflection or part of speech), 478 pairs

homographs (words spelled the same but pronounced differently)

different pronunciations, most [1-107,151,2-146,4-8,63,7-190,8-20,11-217]

        uncommon word: as (like; Roman coin; Persian card game; plural of a; Norse Aesir god) (5)

homonym-heteronym hybrid (alike in sound in one syllable, and in spelling but not sound in the other) [12-50]

        common words: Plato & plateau

capitonym (word that changes pronunciation when capitalized)

        see list Pronounced Differently When Capitalized, Beginning with Each Letter

capitonym sentence pair (parallel sentences using the same words first as proper nouns, then as common nouns) [47-292]

        e.g. March, May, Ford, Polish, Turkey / march, may, ford, polish, turkey

plural

        see list Plural with Same Spelling but Pronunced Differently, Beginning with Each Letter

stress homographs [14-248]

fooler (same-root homograph pronounced differently in another inflection or part of speech), 478 pairs [48-189]

        e.g. read (present) / read (past); present (noun) / present (verb)

Contents | previous: Pronunciation: homophones | next: Pronunciation: Miscellaneous