Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance, the 1937 movie where they sang Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off on rollerskates. Photograph: Masheter Movie Archive/Alamy.
Can you solve it? I say tomato, you say tomato
Pronunciation puzzles
A homonym is a word that has the same pronunciation as, or is spelled identical to, another word with a different meaning. For example, the letter “a” has the homonym “eh”. What’s interesting about “eh” is that it does not contain the letter it sounds like. There’s no “a” in “eh”.
1: Pronounced the same, spelled differently
Find another five letters in English that have homonyms that do not contain the letter they sound like. (One of the words may be a tad obscure, unless you know some Caribbean geography or like crossword puzzles.) These five letters (excluding “a”) spell a common word. What is it?
2. Spelled the same, pronounced differently
Find the homonyms below. Each pair of meanings describes a word that is spelled the same but pronounced differently. The words are listed in alphabetical order.
- (Second option)
- (Switch back and forth)
- (Suitable)
- (Commandeer)
- (Satisfied)
- (Components)
- (Conference attendee)
- (Assign)
- (Price reduction)
- (Disregard)
- (Way in)
- (Enrapture)
- (Incorrect)
- (Disabled)
- (60 seconds)
- (Tiny)
- (In attendance)
- (Give)
- (Fruit and vegetables)
- (Generate)
- (Deny)
- (Rubbish)
- (Distress)
- (Surprise victory)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answers.
PLEASE NO SPOILERS
Instead please share your favourite homonyms.
Sources: 1 Gerry Reynolds 2 Ryan McCormack
I’ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
