[Casiopea]

A homograph is word that has the same spelling as another. Homographs differ from each other in meaning, origin, and sometimes pronunciation.

These differ in meaning, pronuncaition, and word class:

wind (noun) [wInd], a natural movement of the air; e.g., The wind sent my papers flying all over the room.

wind (verb) [wajnd], to twist
e.g., My watch stopped working. I forgot to wind it this morning.

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live (verb) [lIv], to dwell
e.g., I live in China.

live (adjective) [lajv], not recorded
e.g., The concert was live.

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tear (verb) [tEr], to rip (Note, Er as in the sound hair)
e.g., Don't tear the wrapping paper!

tear (noun) [ti:r], a drop of clear liquid produced from a person's eye
e.g., She teared up when we gave her the gift.

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lead (noun) [lEd], a metal (Note, E as in the sound said)
e.g., There isn't any lead in this pencil.

lead (verb) [li:d], what leaders do.
e.g., Sam is going to lead out team to victory.


These differ in meaning and pronunication, but share the same word class:

bow (noun) [bau], the front part of a ship
e.g. The captian is standing near the bow of the ship.

bow (noun) [bou], a decorative knot
e.g., She has a lovely bow in her hair.
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These share the same sound, but differ in word class:

Time flies like a bird.
Fruit flies like bananas.

flies (the verb) and flies (the insects)
like (the preposition expressing similarity) and like (the verb)

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Go to the store. (preposition)
Buy two apples. (adjective)
I like apples too. (adverb)
I want to eat them. (infinitive marker)