Homonymy may be described as the sameness of form associated with the difference of meaning. Homonyms are words identical in sound and/or in spelling but different in meaning. The intense development of homonymy in English is due to the monosyllabic character of its vocabulary and the analytical structure of the English language. Different sources of homonymy in English may by subdivided into two main groups: 1) homonymy which developed due to convergent sound development (etymological, or heterogeneous homonyms); 2) homonymy which developed from polysemy through divergent sense development.
