11th session of semantics

Homonymy is commonly defined as two or more words that have the same form, but they
are different in meaning. They may have the same or different spelling. We have different
types of homonymy. We have homonyms that have different spelling, but they have the
same pronunciation. Example: tail and tale are two different words with two different
meanings that have different spelling, but they are pronounced in the same way /teil/. In
this case, we say that they are homophones, which means they have similar sounds. (Homo
= similar. Phones = sounds) so, tail and tale are homonyms that have different forms with
different spelling, but they have the same pronunciation, the same sound representation, for
this reason they are called homophones. Same with Maid and made /meid/, they are
homonymous words that have different forms with different spelling, but they are
pronounced in the same way, so once again they are homophones. Another example: (of
triple homonyms) to, too, two /tu/ these forms have their own meaning, but they are
pronounced in the same way. So to, too, two are (homophones) another example: Bank and
bank. Bank and bank. These are homophones and homographs. They have the same spelling
and the same sounds. They are at the same time homophones and homographs. So when
they are homophones and homographs they create ambiguity, they are cases of ambiguity.
It is only the context that will reveal the adequate meaning needed in this specific context,
but sometimes even the context can't tell us the meaning required in specific context. So we
have different types of homonyms, but the most common ones are homophones and
homographs.

How can we distinguish between homonymy and polysemy in a dictionary ?

In polysemy, we will find one entry one headword with different meanings, meanings that
are related one to another (1 word). But in homonymy we will find two entries, especially
when they are homophones and homographs, with different meanings. (We are dealing with
2 different words)