A word that has the same spelling as another word but a different meaning and usually a different pronunciation, like 'read' (present) vs. 'read' (past).
From Greek hetero- (different) and -onym (name), literally meaning 'different name,' used for words that look identical but have different meanings and pronunciations.
Heteronyms are English's sneaky shape-shifters: 'bow' (the front of a ship) sounds completely different from 'bow' (to bend), yet they're spelled exactly the same—they're like linguistic twins that went to different countries!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.