1. the state or quality of being a homonym; the relationship between words that have the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings.
Usage: linguistics term; often contrasted with homophony and homography

Examples

• The word 'bank' is an example of homonymy because it can mean a financial institution or the side of a river.
• Homonymy creates ambiguity in language when the context does not make the intended meaning clear.
• Linguists study homonymy to understand how words with identical forms can have completely unrelated meanings.
• The homonymy of 'lead' (the metal) and 'lead' (to guide) demonstrates how spelling alone does not determine meaning.
• Homonymy differs from polysemy, where a single word has multiple related meanings.