Antonyms

An antonym is a word which means the opposite of another word. Antonyms are also called opposites. One way of mastering a language involves learning its vocabulary. Like synonyms, antonyms may have several meanings, and antonyms of some word may or may not be synonyms among themselves. For example, the opposites of the word "friendly", the adjectives "unfriendly, hostile", are synonyms, while the opposites of the word "short", the adjectives "long, tall", are not synonyms.

Antonyms are easier to substitute than synonyms. In the case of adjectives, if you want to express the opposite, you can often use the structure NOT + adjective as a substitute for an antonym: young – not young; expensive – not expensive; important – not important; fragile – not fragile.

Homonyms, their classification.Homonyms

When several related meanings are associated with the same group of sounds within one part of speech, the word is called polysemantic, when two or more unrelated meanings are associated with the same form — the words are homonyms. Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and (in many cases) origin are called homonyms.

Standard classification of homonyms: (given by I.V. Arnold)

Homonyms proper

Homonyms proper are words identical in pronunciation and spelling, like: back n ‘part of the body’ – back adv ‘away from the front’ – back v ‘go back’; ball n ‘a gathering of people for dancing’ – ball n ‘round object used in games’.

The important point is that homonyms are distinct words: not different meanings within one word.

Homophones

Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning:

air – hair; arms – alms; buy – by; him – hymn; knight – night; not – knot; or – oar; piece – peace; rain – reign; scent – cent; steel – steal; storey – story; write – right and many others.

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