How Do You Spell That?

January 13, 2007
Today at Radio Shack, they were out of indoor outdoor thermometers, so the guy sent me to Obershon Hardware down by the Dunkin' Donuts. I got there only to find out it was Aubuchon Hardware. A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but has a different meaning and is often spelled differently (e.g., hair/hair, bat the wooden stick/bat the mammal that hangs upside down in caves). Then there are equivocal words that are spelled the same, have two pronunciations and two meanings (e.g., address the noun and address the verb). But wait, this is two spellings for the same word with the same meaning. I wonder what you call that?

I'm expecting many more entries in this blog category. :-)

I did find an interesting resource on the topic of homophone/homonym, etc. The author doesn't address my situation, but for my lexophile friends, you'll love this:

http://www.scs.fsu.edu/~burkardt/fun/wordplay/equivocal_words.html