Jump to ContentJump to Main Navigation
AMA Manual of Style (10th ed.) : A Guide for Authors and Editors

AMA Manual of Style Committee

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Print Publication Date:
Mar 2007
Print ISBN-13:
9780195176339
Published to AMA Manual of Style:
Apr 2009
DOI:
10.1093/jama/9780195176339.001.0001
© American Medical Association
Contents

Homonyms

Chapter:
Grammar
Author(s):

Stacy Christiansen

7.5.1 Homonyms

Homonyms are words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings. They are easily confused, and computer spell-check programs are unable to differentiate them. Common examples include affect/effect, accept/except, altar/alter, assistance/assistants, cite/site/sight, council/counsel, its/it's, patience/patients, peace/piece, peak/peek/pique, pleural/plural, principal/principle, and your/you're. (See also 11.1, Correct and Preferred Usage, Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases.)