L’autre jour, j’ai mentionné à ma chère maman (qui a l’anglais comme langue maternelle), que j’allais écrire un paragraphe sur les homographes dans ma prochaine nouvelle, et son commentaire était: »mais que sont les homographes?? » Bonne question. En linguistique, des mots homographes sont des mots qui s’écrivent de la même manière, tout en se prononçant ou non de façon différente. S’ils se prononcent de la même façon, ils sont alors également homophones. (Source – Wikipedia)
Lorsque je lui ai expliqué, sa prochaine question était: »mais pourquoi l’anglais est si compliqué!? » Ceci venant d’une anglophone!
Voici comment utiliser chacun de ces mots dans une phrase, avec la bonne prononciation.
1. Close
a) Shut : Did you close the windows before leaving the house?
b) Near: The post office is close to the bank in the main town.
2. Bow
a) Type of knot: She always wraps her presents with colourful bows /bəʊz/
b) To make a forward movement with the top part of your body: Japanese people always bow /baʊ/ to show respect.
3. Bat
a) in baseball or cricket: Tom has a strange way of holding his cricket bat.
b) an animal: We often see bats in our garden in the early evening.
4. Minute
a) tiny: The chances of success were minute /maɪnju:t/
b) unit of time: I will be with you in just a minute /mɪnɪt/
5. Ball
a) sphere: We love ball games.
b) a dance: At university, there was always a Summer Ball.
6. Fly
a) move through the air: I love to watch the birds fly from tree to tree.
b) an insect: I hate it when a fly lands in my soup!
7. Left
a) direction: When you get to the end of the road, turn left.
b) past tense of leave: She left the office at 5pm. NB: In this example, “left” doesn’t mean “went”. That is a mistake on the image. It should say “departed” past tense of the verb “depart”.
8. Pupil
a) part of the eye: Simon has very large pupils.
b) student in a school: Jessica is the star pupil in her drama class.
9. Sewer
a) drain: There is an extensive sewer /su:ə(r)/ system under the city of London.
b) someone who sews: Alice is a good sewer /səʊə(r)/. NB: This meaning is not commonly used in English. We refer to a person who sews as either a seamstress (female) or tailor (female and male)
10. Wound
a) past tense of to wind /waɪnd/: Ben wound /waʊnd/ the tape up after he had finished with it.
b) to injure or an injury: Three soldiers were wounded /wu:ndəd/ in the attack./ The wound /wu:nd/ in my leg is taking a long time to heal.
11. Fair
a) just: I think that the boss was very fair in the way he handled the dispute between the two sides.
b) exhibition: There’s an arts and crafts fair this weekend. Would you like to go?
12. Fan
a) an admirer: I am a huge fan of Woody Allen’s films.
b) a cooling device: Can you switch off the fan, please? I’m really cold.
