Homonym Lists and More Than Homonym Lists
R. Louis asked:
Homonym lists can be found all over the internet. Some of them are quite extensive and are very useful for just viewing and perhaps memorizing homonyms. If you were to review these lists on a regular basis, you would no doubt retain enough to help you make the right homonym choices when you sit down to write.
In addition to just simple lists of homonyms, there are some homonym programs that are quite unique in what they can do. Some of these specialized homonym programs are no doubt the response to what writers, editors, students, and perhaps even you, have noted as a short-coming of all the word processors on the market today: None of them can tell you when you use the wrong homonym because if the homonym is spelled correctly, that is all that matters to our spell checkers. Spell checkers have no concept of context.
A homonym list by itself does not see the document you are creating unless the list is embedded into the word processor you are using. Even then it would need to be configured in such a way that it would alert you to any improperly used homonym in your document based on the context. A simple homonym list is not programmed to do this, but is created for a different purpose.
If you are a writer, teacher, student, or editor, you will be happy to know that there are some forward thinking companies that are addressing this problem and those entrepreneurs that are far ahead of the pack have even developed an add-in for Microsoft Word that identifies improperly used homonyms and automates a process to correct them in real time right in your document.
Homonym lists have certainly served a purpose. Homonym programs that can be embedded into your word processor serve a purpose quite different from that of a homonym list. You can benefit from both. If you take the time to Google homonyms, homonym add-in, or homonym checker, you will see the many choices that are available to you.
Whatever your choice, if producing error free documents is important to you in your field, it is good to know that the homonym lists and the homonym add-ins are making homonym errors in our documents a thing of the past.
Homonym lists can be found all over the internet. Some of them are quite extensive and are very useful for just viewing and perhaps memorizing homonyms. If you were to review these lists on a regular basis, you would no doubt retain enough to help you make the right homonym choices when you sit down to write.
In addition to just simple lists of homonyms, there are some homonym programs that are quite unique in what they can do. Some of these specialized homonym programs are no doubt the response to what writers, editors, students, and perhaps even you, have noted as a short-coming of all the word processors on the market today: None of them can tell you when you use the wrong homonym because if the homonym is spelled correctly, that is all that matters to our spell checkers. Spell checkers have no concept of context.
A homonym list by itself does not see the document you are creating unless the list is embedded into the word processor you are using. Even then it would need to be configured in such a way that it would alert you to any improperly used homonym in your document based on the context. A simple homonym list is not programmed to do this, but is created for a different purpose.
If you are a writer, teacher, student, or editor, you will be happy to know that there are some forward thinking companies that are addressing this problem and those entrepreneurs that are far ahead of the pack have even developed an add-in for Microsoft Word that identifies improperly used homonyms and automates a process to correct them in real time right in your document.
Homonym lists have certainly served a purpose. Homonym programs that can be embedded into your word processor serve a purpose quite different from that of a homonym list. You can benefit from both. If you take the time to Google homonyms, homonym add-in, or homonym checker, you will see the many choices that are available to you.
Whatever your choice, if producing error free documents is important to you in your field, it is good to know that the homonym lists and the homonym add-ins are making homonym errors in our documents a thing of the past.