Identical forms can hide unrelated meanings. A homonym is a word that shares spelling or pronunciation with another word but has a different meaning and origin, such as bank (river edge) and bank (financial institution).

Terminology varies: some authors reserve homonym for items identical in both spelling and sound, using homophone and homograph for partial overlap. Context usually disambiguates homonyms for human listeners, though jokes and headlines exploit residual ambiguity.

Lexicographers give homonyms separate entries when senses are unrelated historically. Language learners must acquire each sense independently. Computational systems need robust context models to avoid confusing homonyms in search and translation.

• Words identical in form but different in meaning
• Often historically unrelated
• Disambiguated mainly by context
• Listed as separate dictionary entries