These Strange English Words are IMPOSSIBLE! – Heteronyms

I was working on this video, and I  got confused. I’m an English teacher,  

and the English language totally confused me.  I had to write out a chart to sort it out.  

Today we’re talking about Amazing English words,  heteronyms, we’re increasing our vocabulary,  

and we’re talking about how crazy  and confusing English can be.

There are lots of reasons why English is crazy,  and today we’re focusing on words that look  

the same, but they aren’t the same. Let me  introduce you to my three nieces. Triplets.  

Looking pretty similar, perhaps hard to  tell apart by looking, but get to know them,  

and you get to know their aura, their  being, and you see how they are different.  

We’re going to do that today with English.  Take this word for example. As a verb,  

it’s project. Second syllable stress, and it means  to estimate, to guess something about the future.  

So instead of saying, “I think we’ll be  two days ahead of schedule,” you could say,  

“We project we’ll be two days ahead of  schedule.” It’s a next-level vocabulary word,  

a little more sophisticated, maybe a little more  formal. As a noun, it looks the same as this.

The pronunciation is different though,  and the meaning too. Now it’s project,  

a noun, a piece of work planned to achieve  a certain goal. For example, I have a  

school project - I have to build a birdfeeder. A  project can be big: We have a big house project,  

we’re gutting and redoing our bathroom. If you’re  gutting something in a house, you’re tearing down  

most things but not the outside walls and starting  over: new flooring, fixtures, maybe moving walls,  

and so on. That is to gut a house for a room. It’s  a big project. But a project can also be small:  

I have a bunch of small projects to do around the  house this weekend, like watering all the plants.

It also means to extend out from something, to  protrude. Protrude is another great vocabulary  

word. Look at these images of the Sky Walk  at the Grand Canyon. It shows a walkway that  

extends from the building, it sticks out, it  protrudes, it projects out over the canyon.

These symbols that you see with the words, showing  the different pronunciations, are called the  

International Phonetic Alphabet. And they come in  really handy when you’re trying to write sounds.  

It’s definitely worth becoming familiar with  the symbols for the sounds of American English,  

so I encourage you to download my  free Sounds of American English  

Cheat Sheet. I give you the symbols for  each sound as well as an illustration for  

how to make it. You can get it free  by clicking here or the link below.

ProJECT: to estimate. PROject: a  piece of work with a certain goal.  

ProJECT: to stick out. One spelling, looks  the same. Different meanings, different uses,  

different pronunciations. These are called  heteronyms. This is a subset of homogpraph.

‘Homo’ or homo means ‘same’ and ‘graph’ relates  to writing. So these are words that are written  

the same, the same spelling. Homograph. If the  pronunciation is the same, that’s a homonym.  

If the pronunciation is different, that’s a  heteronym, and that’s what we’ll study today.

If the pronunciation is the same but the  spelling is different, that’s called a homophone,  

English is full of them, and I have a very  long video that goes over a lot of those.  

I’ll put a link to that in the video description  in the description for this video.

Ok. Heteronyms. I’ve put together  a list and I’ll go alphabetically.  

This is not an absolute complete list, and some  of these words may have many definitions and I  

haven’t always listed each one. Some  of these have related meanings. For example,  

HOUSE, with and S, a structure to live in. We  bought a new house and are moving next month. But  

as a verb, HOUSE, it means to provide a home for.  We house international students in our guest room.  

Noun with an S sound and  Verb with a Z sound. House,  

houze. In this video, I’m leaving out  that kind of pair where the meanings are  

related and I’m focusing more on heteronyms  where the meaning is completely different.

Affect - feelings or emotions. He had a really  flat affect. I couldn’t tell if he was happy,  

sad or angry. Flat affect. No expression.

Affect - to make a difference to.  Being around smokers affected her  

health and she developed asthma.  That’s asthma, with a silent TH.

Affect. Affect

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AL-ternate: to switch back  and forth. We alternate who  

gets up with the baby in the middle of the night.

AL-ter-nit: a different one, or the  next choice. The student that was  

chosen for my live class wasn’t available, so  I worked with an alternate student instead.

AL-ternate. AL-ter-nit

Address: a speech. I’m giving an address  at a conference later this month.

Uh-dress: the location of a building,  the direction for a piece of mail.  

What’s your uh-ddress? I’ll send you a postcard.

Now, here’s a higher-level vocabulary use  for this word: to think about or deal with  

an issue or a problem. How do we address  the issue of malnutrition in seniors?  

Now, as a verb, “how do we address this issue?” –  it’s always uh-dress, with second-syllable stress.

Address. Uh-dress.

BASS with the AA vowel is a kind of fish.  

For tonight’s special, we’re  offering a grilled striped bass.

But change the pronunciation to the AY  diphthong, bass, it’s an object, an upright bass,  

or a bass guitar, it’s also, in 4-part harmony,  the lowest voice. Bass, tenor, alto, soprano.  

And guess what? This pronunciation of ‘bass’  is a homophone with this word: b-a-s-e,  

base. That means they sound the same but they’re  spelled differently. And this word, base,  

has a lot of meanings. It means the lowest part  of something. You need a strong base to support  

the bridge. It means the center of operations.  This clothing brand is based in Los Angeles.  

It’s one of these things, that you have to  touch or stand on in baseball to be safe,  

and because of all the baseball idioms we  have, there are some idioms with this word.  

If you’re way off-base, that means you’re not  at the truth, you’re mistaken. For example,  

“Hey guys, I solved the problem!  Look, this is how we do it”.  

“No, I don’t think so, I think that’s still  pretty off-base.” Or have you heard the phrase  

touch base? We use this all the time to check in  on something or someone. For example, let’s say  

you sell software. You have a company interested  in a big purchase. You haven’t heard from them  

in a while, so you want to check in with them. You  could call them up and say, “Hey, I just wanted to  

touch base to see if you wanted to move forward,  or if you have any questions I can answer.”

Bass, bass, base.

Bow. It means to bend over like  you may do after a performance.  

You may bow after playing your bass in a concert.

Bow - in your hair, you may tie a  pretty bow for that concert. Bow, bow.

Close

Physical proximity. I’m not quite close  enough to reach it. This is with an  

S but end that with a Z, close, it’s the  opposite of open. Please close the door.

Close. Close.

CON-sole. A cabinet, like for a TV,  a gaming device. The thing between  

the front seats of your car where you store stuff.  

One time I spilled a whole container of Tom-Yum  soup all over the console of my car, it got in  

every nook and cranny, and my car smelled like  Tom-Yum for months despite many cleanings.

CON sole. But also, conSOLE. To  offer emotional support, to comfort.  

I consoled my son after he  lost an important soccer game.

Console. Console.

CONtract - An official written agreement.  They offered him a 3-year modeling contract.

conTRACT - to decrease in size, number,  or range. Your heart contracts about 70  

times a minute. The opposite of this word  is expand. Wood doors expand and contract  

depending on moisture and humidity. Have you  ever noticed if it’s really humid that you  

might have to work harder to close a door?  That’s because it has expanded a little.

Also, conTRACT, to catch or  develop a disease or infection.  

He contracted Covid-19 at a birthday party.

Contract. Contract

DESert. One S, an arid region. The  Sahara is the world’s largest desert.

But, also desert. Stress changes now.  

deSERT. To leave, to abandon.  Don’t desert me now. I need you.

And now this pronunciation is a homophone,  

that is, it sounds the same but it’s  spelled differently from this word,  

dessert, two s’s but it’s still pronounced Z!  And this is something delicious and sweet to  

eat at the end of a meal. I let the kids have  ice cream for dessert a couple of times a week.

DESert, deSERT, dessert.

DIgest - a compilation or  summary of information.

Golf Digest brings together golf news  from all over the world to one place.

diGEST - This is how your body breaks down  food. Though we usually think of food for this,  

we can also use it with information  or news – to take in and understand.  

I’m trying to study for a big test  but there’s just so much to digest.

Dove (DUV) - a beautiful bird. They  released doves at their wedding.

Dove (DOHVE): past tense of  dive. He dove into the water.

Dove. Dove.

Incense (INsense): something that’s  burned for the smell it gives off.  

Some churches burn incense during services.

But, incense (inSENCE) means to make really  angry. This is a great next-level vocabulary  

word to use instead of ‘mad’. I snuck out  after curfew and my parents were incensed.

Incense. Incense.

Invalid (INvalid). Someone  who’s sick a lot of the time.  

She’s sort of an invalid and  doesn’t really leave the house.

Invalid (In VALid). Not valid, not legitimate,  

not legally acceptable. Your passport is  an inVALid form of ID because it expired.

Invalid. Invalid

Lead (LEED) - to guide. You lead the  way; I don’t know where I’m going.

But also, Lead (LEHD), the chemical element.  

Lead poisoning in children is a  problem in the Philadelphia area.

And here’s what's funny, the past tense of  

lead is pronounced LED but it’s spelled L-E-D.  So L-E-D is a homophone, sounds the same as  

LEAD the element, which is a heteronym with the  present tense of LED, LEAD. Is that confusing??

Lead. Lead. Led

Minute (MINute) - 60 seconds. I’ll be back in  five minutes. Also, have you ever heard the phrase  

“Wait a minute”? It doesn’t actually mean to wait  a minute. It means something is not understood or  

stop. Wait a minute, I thought you said she was in  high school, but she’s in college? Wait a minute.

Minute (mai-NYOOT), extremely small,  

insignificant. You have to focus on the overall  project and not get stuck on minute details.

Minute. Minute.

Object (OBject) - a thing. There were some objects  on the table, but I couldn’t tell what they were.

Object (obJECT) - to disagree. I object  to that interpretation of the law.

Object. Object.

Patronize

This one is crazy because it has  

opposite meanings, and both are  great next-level vocabulary words.

If you patronize something, you go there  as a customer. A restaurant, a theater,  

and so on. We like to patronize  our local shops whenever possible  

rather than buying from big box stores. A big box  store would be like a Walmart, CVS, or Target.  

So instead of saying, I like to shop at my local  pharmacy, or, I like to buy things at my local  

pharmacy, you could say, I like to patronize my  local pharmacy. And that’s a good thing. Your  

local businesses want you to patronize them.  They want you to go spend your money there.

So you want somebody to patronize (PAYtronize)  you, but you don’t want them to PATronize you.  

To patronize is to talk down to someone, to  feel superior to them. He patronizes a lot of  

people at work because he thinks he’s better than  them. If you think someone is doing this to you,  

you could say, 'Stop patronizing me.' Now, this  meaning can also be pronounced PAYtonized.

Patronize. Patronize.

Polish (PAHlish) - to shine something.  I need to get these shoes polished,  

they’re looking kind of old.

But, with a capital P, it’s Polish,  which means from or relating to Poland.  

There are a lot of Polish  restaurants in this area.

Polish. Polish.

PREsent: a gift. I got her a present for  her birthday. Or, to be physically there.  

She was not present at the meeting. It  also means this very moment. Not the past,  

not the future, but the present. Meditation  helps you feel present in the moment.

But we also have preZENT:  to formally give something.  

He’s going to present his research at the next  meeting. This means everyone will be quiet,  

watching, paying attention to this “presentation”.

Present. Present.

A record is this thing. It can also mean  something official to be kept track of or stated:  

For the record, I think this trip is going  to be a disaster, but I will go with you.

But it can also mean to  write down, to keep track of,  

or to capture like audio or video. Do  you mind if I record our conversation?

Record. Record.

Resume (reZUM) - to start again. We’ll take  a 15-minute break then resume the meeting.

But it’s also pronounced REzume,  

and it means a document of your work experience.  It’s sometimes written with these accent marks,  

but doesn’t have to be. To apply for the  job, please send a cover letter and resume.

Resume. Resume.

SUBject means theme. The subject of today’s  lecture is American English Pronunciation.

SubJECT means to expose to  or to force upon someone.  

He was subjected to a lot of verbal  abuse by his boss at his old job.

Tear (Teer): fluid in the eye. There  was a tear running down his cheek  

even though he was trying not to cry.

Tear: a rip, Oh no, there’s a tear in a page of  my son’s favorite book. And this pronunciation is  

a homophone, sounds the same, tare. T-a-r-e. This  word means the weight of something. For example,  

you would tare a scale if you set something  on it, but you don’t want that factored into  

the total weight. I might put the bowl on the  scale, tare it, and then add 50 grams of sugar.

Tear. Tare.

Wind (WAInd) - to roll, coil, to have a circular  

direction. I have to wind the crank on my  desk to raise it to a standing position.

Wind (WIHnd): the natural motion of  air. Expect heavy wind and rain today.

Wind. Wind.

Wound. Now, the first pronunciation is the past  

tense of what we just one of the words we  just learned, wAInd. I wound the crank.

But it’s also pronounced woooond,  and in this case it means  

an injury. He has an open wound from the fire.

Wound, wound.

Now, there are more heteronyms than what  I put here, so if you can think of a pair,  

put it in the comments below. Are you going to  level-up your vocabulary with any of these words?  

Which one do you think will  be the most useful for you?

Thank you so much for studying with  me. Keep your learning going now with  

this video. Please subscribe here  on YouTube and be sure to turn on  

notifications. I make new videos on the English  language every week and I’d love to see you here.  

That’s it, and thanks so much  for using Rachel’s English.