What is the name of the term for when a word has two meanings?

Answer 1

Polysemy refers to cases where a lexeme (word) has more than one meaning. For example a chip can refer to a piece of wood, food, or electronic circuit: we say that the word "chip" has several different meanings in English, which are all related ("action" or "paper" are other examples of polysemous words).





Homonymy refers to cases where two (or more) different words have the same sounds. For example the word "bank" can mean a financial institution or an area of ground: these are two different words in English). Homonymous words can be either homophones = same sounds, but different spellings (ex.: I/eye; bear/bare) or homographs = same sounds and same spelling (ex bank/bank; file/file)

Answer 2

It's a homonym.

This covers both words that are spelled the same (homographs) and words that sound the same (homophones).

In english, the french term 'double-entendre' has a fairly specific meaning and is used when a rude meaning has sprung up around an otherwise innocuous word, such as hump, shag, root or pork.

Answer 3

a HOMONYMN is a word that is spelt the same way, so sounds the same, but has different meanings

an ANTONYM is a word that means the opposite of another word

a HOMOGRAPH is a word that is spelt the same way, but has a different meaning, similar to homonym

!a SYNONYM is a word that means the same or nearly the same as another word, so this must be the word you're looking for!

don't let people confuse you - check ur dictionary

Answer 4

homonym.
Etymology: Latin homonymum, from Greek homOnymon, from neuter of homOnymos

1 a : HOMOPHONE b : HOMOGRAPH c : one of two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning (as the noun quail and the verb quail)

2 : NAMESAKE

3 : a taxonomic designation rejected as invalid because the identical term has been used to designate another group of the same rank -- compare SYNONYM
- hom·onym·ic adjective

-x-x-x-x-x

homophone
Function: noun
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary

1 : one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling (as the words to, too, and two)

2 : a character or group of characters pronounced the same as another character or group
- ho·moph·o·nous adjective

Answer 5

homonyms are words of the same form as another but have different meanings like pole1 and pole2
Pole 1 is a native of Poland and Pole 2 can mean the north or south pole or pos and neg on a battery so you mean homonym

Answer 6

When a word is spelled the same way but has different meanings depending upon the context in which it is used, it is referred to as a 'homograph'.

Examples include 'hail' - hardened rain and 'hail' - praise; or 'fair' - a celebration and 'fair' - even or consistent.

Answer 7

I think you are referring to the term called a "Connotation" .. When one says a word is connotative, he/she means that it means more than one straightaway comprehension. If a word bears a lot of meanings, it is referred to as a "Multiple Connotation". Hope My answer helps to a certain degree and is relevant to your query. Good Luck !

Answer 8

Its called a Homonym - words that sound alike, or are spelled alike, but mean different things, such as too and two.

Answer 9

homograph

The word you are looking for is homograph. This covers words spelt in the same way but of different meaning or origins (e.g. pole = piece of wood or metal and pole as in North Pole, as well as words of identical spelling but different pronunciation (e.g. lead noun and lead verb).

Answer 10

I thought you might mean "double entendre" - from French, but now absorbed totally into English. But just in case that's not what you meant, I went to http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/double%20entendre
for synonyms! Results;
Definition: play on words
Synonyms: ambiguity, amphibiology, double meaning, equivocality, equivocation, equivoque, innuendo, joke, pun, tergiversation

Maybe one of those is what you meant??!
; )