# Is there a word or term for this? \[Words which mean opposite things when pronounced differently\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884 "2015-04-30T12:21:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/1 "2015-04-30T12:21:21Z")
When you have a word which, when pronounced one way, has one meaning, but pronounced in a different way, has the opposite meaning. So for example; resign (to quit) and resign (to join up again). ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/2 "2015-04-30T13:17:12Z")
A contronym (provided the pronunciation is not required to be different). Here’s a [whole bunch](http://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-contronyms-words-with-contradictory-meanings/). ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/3 "2015-04-30T13:21:24Z")
Also note that your second word would typically be presented as “re-sign”. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Lethargic\_Prawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@A\_Lethargic\_Prawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Lethargic_Prawn)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/4 "2015-04-30T14:02:21Z")
Antonymic Homophone? ---
**Author:** ![Loomis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/71e660/32.png) [@Loomis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loomis)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/5 "2015-04-30T14:21:06Z")
I don’t think the OP is talking about contronyms. (Same word, opposite meaning) The way I read it is…same word, but the pronounciation and/or context give it a different meaning, but those meanings will not necesarily be contradictory. Live: “Live bait” or “why don’t you live a little” Contract: “I may contract herpes if I sleep with you” or “I don’t feel comfortable signing that contract” Right: “I have a right to live” or “Take a right at the next stop sign.” ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/6 "2015-04-30T14:51:16Z")
OP is just pointing out why the English language is difficult to learn. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/7 "2015-04-30T14:59:57Z")
> [@Loomis](#): > > I don’t think the OP is talking about contronyms. (Same word, opposite meaning) Actually, I was. 😛 And thanks for the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/8 "2015-04-30T20:17:15Z")
> [@Loomis](#): > > “I may contract herpes if I sleep with you” One must wonder why this particular sentance popped into your head 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/9 "2015-04-30T20:40:01Z")
Thread title edited to indicate subject. Please use descriptive thread titles. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/10 "2015-05-01T02:03:44Z")
There is also the concept of words pronounced differently but spelled the same. I once got a list of over 100 of them. I called them heterophonic homographs, but homographic heterophones would work just as well. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/11 "2015-05-01T04:35:19Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > When you have a word which, when pronounced one way, has one meaning, but pronounced in a different way, has the opposite meaning. > > So for example; resign (to quit) and resign (to join up again). I’d call these homographic heterophonic antonyms, or maybe heterophonic contronyms. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/12 "2015-05-01T07:22:11Z")
> [@Loomis](#): > > The way I read it is…same word, but the pronounciation and/or context give it a different meaning, but those meanings will not necesarily be contradictory. > " You realize that this is basically practically every single word in the dictionary? There is hardly any word which means just one thing. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/13 "2015-05-01T08:29:42Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > A contronym (provided the pronunciation is not required to be different). > > Here’s a [whole bunch](http://www.dailywritingtips.com/75-contronyms-words-with-contradictory-meanings/). Also called Janus words or autoantonyms. Here’s even more of them. This topic comes up all the time in SD. Lotta people like words here. [nitpick]“Contr **a** nyms.” > [@Loomis](#): > > I don’t think the OP is talking about contronyms. (Same word, opposite meaning) > > The way I read it is…same word, but the pronounciation and/or context give it a different meaning, but those meanings will not necesarily be contradictory. > > Live: > > “Live bait” or “why don’t you live a little” > > Contract: > > “I may contract herpes if I sleep with you” or “I don’t feel comfortable signing that contract” > > Right: > > “I have a right to live” or “Take a right at the next stop sign.” The funhouse of polysemy is large. The “See also” of the Wiki entry leads to more analyses of these twisted mirrors in language (their optics, to belabor the metaphor). If it’s not in Silva Rhetoricae, it ain’t anywhere, I’m guessing. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/14 "2015-05-04T04:51:31Z")
My favorite word that has a (slightly) different meaning when pronounced differently is “arithmetic”, probably because most people don’t even know the other pronunciation or what the hell it means. (Stress on the third syllable; it becomes an adjective) I wouldn’t know of any words that change in pronunciation in order to express the exact opposite meaning like can be done with the word “cleave”. Perhaps I shall take it up as a project to find one. I project it will take a long time to find one. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/15 "2015-05-04T07:49:07Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > OP is just pointing out why the English language is difficult to learn. Actually many other languages have a greater frequency of homonyms than English. So we can call it a reason _languages_ are difficult to learn, and prone to misunderstandings. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/16 "2015-05-04T09:14:06Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > My favorite word that has a (slightly) different meaning when pronounced differently is “arithmetic”, probably because most people don’t even know the other pronunciation or what the hell it means. (Stress on the third syllable; it becomes an adjective) I wouldn’t know of any words that change in pronunciation in order to express the exact opposite meaning like can be done with the word “cleave”. > > Perhaps I shall take it up as a project to find one. I project it will take a long time to find one. I’m entranced. Where do I get in? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-or-term-for-this-words-which-mean-opposite-things-when-pronounced-differently/718884/17 "2015-05-04T11:12:50Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I’m entranced. Where do I get in? Ha!