Homophones in Russian

15 ноября 2018

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of “rise”), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two and too. Homophones are often used to create puns and to deceive the reader or to suggest multiple meanings.

Try to picture the following situations…

She enjoyed the latest cereal of the X Files on television.
He liked to eat a bowl of serial every morning.
Cinderella is a famous fairy tail.
A dog will wag its tale when it’s happy.
The son is shining.
Her sun was very clever.

Homophones quiz

Here are some examples of homophones in Russian: порог — порок — парок, луг — лук, плод — плот, туш — тушь, падёж — падёшь, бал — балл, косный — костный, предать — придать, эмиттировать — имитировать.

The Russian language has two main sources of homophones: the phenomenon of stunning consonants at the end of words and before another consonant, and the reduction of vowels in unstressed positions.
Often the infinitive form and 3rd person of a verb are equally pronounced: (надо) решиться — (он) решится, (хочу) строиться — (дом) строится, (металл может) гнуться — (деревья) гнутся, (должен) вернуться — (они) вернутся.

There are also homophones among the phrases: в месте — вместе, во все — вовсе, из мяты — измяты, из люка — и злюка, не мой — немой.