Homonym

1.    

             Is a word that is said or spelled the same way as another word but has a different meaning. A homonym can be a word that sounds the same as something else — like by (“near”) and buy (“purchase”) — or it can be spelled exactly the same way and pronounced differently — like minute (unit of time) and minute (“tiny”).

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Homophone

1.    

            Is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and/or spelling. You have to listen to the context to know which word someone means if they’re spoken aloud.

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Hyphenated compounding

                 A compound term is a combination of two or more words that, to varying degrees, have become unified in form and meaning through frequent use together. In many cases only one syllable in the compound is stressed. The trend over the years has been for the English compound to begin as two separate words, then be hyphenated and finally, if there is no structural impediment to union, become a single word written without a space or hyphen. Whatever its form, the compound frequently serves to avoid circumlocution and create a more concise style.

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