Mini Gwammar Workshop

I had a conversation with a friend last night and in this conversation I very vividly remembered a Language Arts lesson from my elementary school years. I remember a teacher telling us that wow was an example of a homograph...

Here is a brief refresher course for anyone who is a little shakey on their word forms:

Homonyms are words that sound alike but have different meanings like fair (just) and fair (festival). (Homophones are a type of homonym that sound alike and have different meanings, but that also different spellings like pair and pear.)

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings like bow (and arrow) and bow (as in curtsey). Heteronyms are a type of homograph that are spelled the same and have different meanings, but that also sound different like tear (rip) and tear (crying).

Soooo, wow is an example of a homonym generally and a homograph more specifically. Wow prounounced with a long o is used in the "Wow...you better slow down!" sense and wow with the o prounounced as if in "Ow, hurt!" is used in the "Wow! You're feet are dirty."

Get the distinction?