the homonym "wave"

The Homonym "Wave"

The homonym “wave” is one of the many homonyms in the English language. Homonyms are words in which spelling and pronunciation are the same but the meanings are different. The English language has a lot of homonyms which always confuse ESL and ELL students.

Learning homonyms can be a little tricky because the word can function differently. In English grammar, it can be a noun, a verb, or an adjective. Homonyms make us confuse but learning these words surely improves one’s vocabulary foundation. It helps us widen our lexical foundation and it makes learning English more interesting.

Considered to be one of the most common English Homonyms, the word “wave” can be used as a verb or as a noun. Let’s unlock the mystery of this word and let’s improve our vocabulary by learning its definitions. What are the meanings of this word? Let me enlighten you.

Wave as a Noun

As a noun, the word “wave” means a raised line of water that moves across the surface of an area of water, especially the sea.

For example:

The sea waves are big and rough during storms.
Surfers like riding the big waves in the sea.

 

Wave as a Verb

As a verb, “wave” means to raise your hand and move it from side to side as a way of greeting someone, telling someone to do something, or adding emphasis to an expression.

For example:

Famous people usually wave at their fans.
I always wave at my friends when I meet them somewhere.

 

Conclusion

There are hundreds of homonyms in English, and the word “WAVE” is just one of them. As you continue to improve your English vocabulary, you should never forget the two meanings of the word “WAVE”. As a noun, a ‘wave’ is something you see in the sea, and as a verb, ‘wave’ is the action you do/make when you say Hi and Hello to someone.

Find out more about some confusing words in English and enrich your vocabulary by discovering new words in English in our daily blog posts at https://qqeng.net.