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Vocab Review: Homonyms

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This week we’re pleased to launch our brand new Vocabulary eBook. In it, you will find plenty of new words to enrich and boost your vocabulary as well as some notes explaining some confusing English vocabulary. To help you understand them better, we also have illustrated examples and some exercises (with key answers) at the end of the eBook. What are you waiting for? Download your copy now!

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Today we’re going to take a closer look at a group of words called  “Homonyms”.

 

What are homonyms?

‘Homonyms’ are a group of words that share spelling and pronunciation, but have a different meaning.

Lean

lean

‘To lean’ is a verb which means to bend from a vertical position, just like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it can also be used as an adjective to describe a person who is really thin, or meat which contains very little fat. Let’s look at a couple of examples to make sure that we’ve understood the difference:

E.g. Don’t lean on that wall, it’s not safe!
E.g. H has a muscular, lean body because he’s always in the gym.
E.g. This meat is very lean, there’s hardly any fat on it.

 

Spirit

spirit

The key to understanding this joke is the noun ‘spirit’. This word can mean either ghost or a hard type of alcohol, like whiskey and vodka. Here are a couple of clear examples:

E.g. I don’t think spirits really exist. Ghosts only live in scary stories and films.
E.g. Our bar serves a great variety of wines and spirits. Which one would you like to try?


Ready to learn more? Download EC´s new Vocabulary eBook now, it´s FREE!

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