A neologism (pronounced nee-AH-low-djism) is a newly invented word or term.

Neologisms would seem to occur

at a greater rate in cultures with rapidly changing technologies and with greater means for information dispersal.
A palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same forward as it does backward. The words a and I are perhaps
the simplest and least interesting palindromes; the word racecar and the name Hannah are more interesting and
illustrative. Neither spaces nor punctuation are usually taken into consideration when constructing sentences that are
palindromes -- one of the most famous palindromes is "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama" -- but when the spaces are
properly positioned as well, so much the better. An example would be the also famous palindrome "Able was I ere I
saw Elba," purportedly spoken by Napoleon, referring to his first sighting of Elba, the island where the British
exiled him.
Palindromes are a type of palingram called letter palingrams. A palingram is a sentence in which the letters,
syllables, or words read the same backward as they do forward. The sentence, "He was, was he?" is a word
palingram, because the words can be placed in reverse order and still read the same. The sentence, "I did, did I?" is
not only a word palingram but a letter palingram (or palindrome) as well.
A number of interesting palindromes are given below for your amusement. Can you make up your own?

Words

level

aibohphobia

madam

alula

Malayalam

cammac

minim

civic

murdrum

deified

peeweep

deleveled

racecar

detartrated

radar

devoved

redder

dewed

refer

evitative

reifier

Hannah

repaper

kayak

reviver

kinnikinnik

rotator

lemel

rotavator

rotor

stats

sagas

tenet

solos

terret

sexes

testset

Phrases and Sentences

Daedalus: nine. Peninsula: dead.

A dog, a plan, a canal: pagoda.

Dammit, I'm mad!

A man, a plan, a canal: Panama.

Delia saw I was ailed.

A new order began, a more Roman age bred

Rowena.

Denim axes examined.

A tin mug for a jar of gum, Nita.

Dennis and Edna sinned.

A Toyota. Race fast, safe car. A Toyota.

Depardieu, go razz a rogue I draped.

Able was I ere I saw Elba.

Desserts, I stressed!

Animal loots foliated detail of stool lamina.

Did I draw Della too tall, Edward? I did?

o
o

Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to

Vienna.

Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn

onward to new era?

Do good? I? No! Evil anon I deliver. I maim

nine more hero-men in Saginaw, sanitary
sword a-tuck, Carol, I -- lo! -- rack, cut a
drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more heromen in Miami. Reviled, I (Nona) live on. I
do, O God!

Are we not pure? "No sir!" Panama's moody

Noriega brags. "It is garbage!" Irony dooms
a man; a prisoner up to new era.

Doc, note I dissent: a fast never prevents a

fatness. I diet on cod.

Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard.

As I pee, sir, I see Pisa!

o

Drat Saddam, a mad dastard!

Barge in! Relate mere war of 1991 for a

were-metal Ernie grab!

Draw, O coward!

Bombard a drab mob.

Draw pupil's lip upward.

Bush saw Sununu swash sub.

Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside.

Cain: a maniac.

Eva, can I stab bats in a cave?

Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.

Evil did I dwell; lewd I did live.

Gateman sees name, garageman sees name

tag.

No cab, no tuna nut on bacon.

Go hang a salami; I'm a lasagna hog.

No lemon, no melon.

Goldenrod-adorned log.

No sir -- away! A papaya war is on.

Golf? No sir, prefer prison-flog.

On a clover, if alive, erupts a vast, pure evil;

a fire volcano.

Harass sensuousness, Sarah.

Party boobytrap.

I roamed under it as a tired, nude Maori.

Poor Dan is in a droop.

Laminated E.T. animal.

Reviled did I live, said I, as evil I did

deliver.

Lay a wallaby baby ball away, Al.

o

Rise to vote, sir.

Lepers repel.
o

Saw tide rose? So red it was.

Senile felines.

So many dynamos!

Some men interpret nine memos.

Stab nail at ill Italian bats.

Stack cats.

Stella won no wallets.

Step on no pets.

Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots!

Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on

warts.

T. Eliot, top bard, notes putrid tang

emanating, is sad. I'd assign it a name: gnat
dirt upset on drab pot-toilet.

Tarzan raised Desi Arnaz' rat.

Ten animals I slam in a net.

Too bad I hid a boot.

Let O'Hara gain an inn in a Niagara hotel.

Live not on evil.

o
o
o

Lived on Decaf; faced no Devil.

Lonely Tylenol.
Ma is a nun, as I am.

Ma is as selfless as I am.

Madam, I'm Adam.

Madam in Eden, I'm Adam.

Marge lets Norah see Sharon's telegram.

May a moody baby doom a yam.

Meet animals; laminate 'em.

Mr. Owl ate my metal worm.

Murder for a jar of red rum.

Never odd or even.

No, Mel Gibson is a casino's big lemon.

Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Yo, banana boy!

Wonder if Sununu's fired now.

Yo, Bob! Mug o' gumbo, boy!

Won't I panic in a pit now?

Yo, bottoms up! (U.S. motto, boy.)

Won't lovers revolt now?

Homonyms (also called homophones) are words that sound like one another but have
different meanings. Some homonyms are spelled the same, like bark (the sound a dog
makes) and bark (the outer layer of a tree trunk). Some homonyms are spelled differently,
like one (the number) and won (having been victorious).
Note: The Columbia Guide to Standard English defines homophones as words that are
pronounced alike and have different spellings (like flower and flour), and defines homonyms
as a more general term that includes both homophones and words that are spelled alike and
have different meanings (like bank [the edge of a river] and bank [a financial institution]).
However, the Random House Unabridged Dictionary (1993 edition) defines the terms
homonym and homophone in such a way that each term includes words that are pronounced
alike and have different spellings, and also words that are spelled alike and have different
meanings.

Some common homonyms include:

ad/add
allowed/aloud
ant/aunt
ate/eight
ball/bawl
band/banned
bear/bare
be/bee
billed/build
blew/blue
board/bored
boy/buoy
brake/break
by/bye/buy
beach/beech
bolder/boulder
bread/bred
brouse/brows
capital/capitol
caret/carrot/ca
rat/karat
cell/sell
cent/scent/sen
t
census/senses

doughs/d
oze
earn/urn
ewe/you
eye/I
fare/fair
feat/feet
find/fined
fir/fur
flea/flee
flew/flu/fl
ue
flower/flo
ur
for/four/f
ore
forth/four
th
foul/fowl
frees/free
ze
gneiss/ni
ce
gnu/kne
w/new

its/it's
jam/jamb
jeans/gene
s
knead/need
/kneed
knight/nigh
t
knows/nose
/no's
lead/led
leased/leas
t
lessen/less
on
lie/lye
links/lynx
load/lode/lo
wed
loan/lone
locks/lox
loot/lute
maid/made
mail/male
maize/maz

passed/pas
t
patience/p
atients
pause/paw
s
peace/piec
e
peak/peek/
pique
peal/peel
pedal/pedd
le
peer/pier
pi/pie
plain/plane
plum/plum
b
praise/pray
s/preys
presence/p
resents
principal/pr
inciple
prince/print

sea/see
seam/seem
seas/sees/sei
ze
serf/surf
serge/surge
sew/so/sow
shoe/shoo
side/sighed
sighs/size
sign/sine
sight/site/cit
e
slay/sleigh
soar/sore
soared/swor
d
sole/soul
son/sun
some/sum
spade/spaye
d
staid/stayed
stair/stare
stake/steak

to/too/two
toad/toed/t
owed
toe/tow
told/tolled
tracked/tra
ct
trussed/tru
st
use/ewes
vein/vane
verses/ver
sus
vial/vile
vice/vise
wade/weig
hed
wail/whale
waist/wast
e
wait/weigh
t
waive/wav
e
Wales/whal

cereal/serial
chews/choose
choral/coral
chute/shoot
clothes/close
colonel/kernel
creak/creek
crews/cruise
cymbal/symbol
days/daze
dear/deer
dew/do/due
die/dye
disc/disk
discreet/discre
te
discussed/disg
ust
doe/dough

gored/go
urd
gorilla/gu
errilla
grays/gra
ze
grate/gre
at
guessed/
guest
gym/Jim
hale/hail
hall/haul
hare/hair
heal/heel
/he'll
heard/he
rd
hew/hue
hi/high
higher/hi
re
him/hym
m
hair/hare
hoarse/h
orse
hole/who
le
hour/our
idle/idol
idle/idol/i
dyl
in/inn
incite/insi
ght

e
meet/meat
medal/med
dle
mince/mint
s
miner/mino
r
missed/mis
t
mooed/moo
d
morning/m
ourning
muscle/mu
ssel
mussed/mu
st
nays/neigh
s
no/know
none/nun
nose/knows
/no's
not/knot/na
ught
one/won
or/oar/ore
overdo/over
due
paced/past
e
pail/pale
pain/pane
pair/pare/p
ear
pain/pane

s
quarts/quar
tz
quince/quin
ts
rain/reign/r
ein
raise/rays/r
aze
rap/wrap
read/reed
read/red
real/reel
reek/wreak
rest/wrest
review/revu
e
right/rite/w
rite
ring/wring
road/rode/r
owed
roe/row
role/roll
root/route
rose/rows
rote/wrote
roux/rue
rye/wry
sacks/sax
sail/sale
sawed/sod
scene/seen

stationary/st
ationery
steal/steel
straight/strai
t
suede/swaye
d
summary/su
mmery
sundae/Sund
ay
tacks/tax
tail/tale
taut/taught
tea/tee
teas/tease/te
es
tents/tense
tern/turn
there/their/t
hey're
threw/throug
h
throne/throw
n
thyme/time
tide/tied
tighten/titan

es
war/wore
ware/wear/
where
warn/worn
wax/whack
s
way/weigh/
whey
we/wee
weather/w
hether
we'd/weed
weld/welle
d
we'll/wheel
wen/when
we've/wea
ve
weak/week
which/witc
h
whirled/wo
rld
whirred/wo
rd
whine/wine
whoa/woe
who's/who
se
wood/woul
d
worst/wurs
t
yoke/yolk
you'll/yule
your/you're
/yore

Common Homographs
Homographs are words that are spelled the same, and in most
instances, sound the same,but which have different meanings.
Below is a list of common homographs. For a complete list of
homographs, you should consult a reference book such

as Homophones and Homographs : An American Dictionary. To

learn the meaning, or to hear how any of the words in this list are
pronounced, use this link.

arms (weapons)

arms (part of body)

ball (sphere)

ball (dance)

band (music makers)

band (strap)

bass (low musical sound)

bass (fish) *

bear (animal)

bear (carry)

bluff (steep embankment)

bluff (fool)

boil (bubble)

boil (skin sore)

bow (bend)

bow (part of ship)

bow (weapon) *

box (container)

box (hit)
box (shrub)

brush (tool)

brush (undergrowth)

can (container)

can (able)

case (container)

case (condition)

colon (part of body)

colon (punctuation mark)

count (royalty)

count (number)

date (fruit); date (on calendar)

date (companion)

down (feathers)

down (direction)
down (grassland)

duck (bird)

duck (avoid)
duck (cloth)

fan (admirer)

fan (cooling device)

fast (quick)

fast (starve)

fine (good quality)

fine (payment for wrongdoing)

firm (hard)

firm (company)

fly (insect)

fly (move through air)

fly (flap of cloth covering pant zipper)

fresh (new)

fresh (bold)

gum (chewing treat)

gum (mouth part)

hold (grasp)

hold (part of ship)

jam (preserved fruit)

jam (squeeze)
jam (impromptu music)

lap (part of body)

lap (course)
lap (drink)

lean (slant)

lean (thin)

left (direction)

left (went)

lie (untruth)

lie (recline)

loaf (lounge)

loaf (bread)

lumber (wood)

lumber (walk slowly)

mole (skin spot)

mole (animal)

page (call)

page (of paper)

page (youth)

pen (for writing)

pen (enclosure)

pitcher (container)

pitcher (in baseball)

pop (sound)

pop (popular)

pop (father)

pop (soda)

pound (weight)

pound (kennel)
pound (hit)

prune (fruit)

prune (cut)

pupil (part of eye)

pupil (student)

racket (for tennis)

racket (scheme)
racket (noise)

ring (circle)

ring (sound of bell)

row (in a line)

row (with oars)

row (fight)*
sock (hit)

sock (stocking)

tap (hit lightly)

tap (faucet)

swallow (bird)

swallow (gulp)

well (good)

well (for water)

nail (body part)

nail (hit with a hammer)

*Note that these homographs are pronounced differently.