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Homophones Part II: Homographs

In a previous Yabla German lesson, we discussed heterographs. Today, we'll be taking a look at homographs. These are homophonic words, which means they are words that sound the same and are spelled the same, but have different meanings. Homographs can be quite confusing in spoken language, because the only way to know the meanings of the words—since they sound the same—is by the context in which they are used. In German, the gender of the word can play a significant role. The word "homograph" comes from Ancient Greek and literally means "written the same."

 

Note too that in German, regional differences in pronunciation can sometimes make a set of words homophones in one region, but not in another. Keep in mind that because of the capitalization of nouns in German, in order for two words to be true homographs, they must both be the the same case, with the first letters either lower or upper case. So while the adjective arm ("poor") may be the same letters and sound the same as the noun der Arm ("arm"), they are homophones but not strictly homographs because of the difference in cases. Since all nouns are capitalized in German, this means that a noun can never be a homograph of a verb, adjective, or adverb in German. This makes for very few homographs in German compared to English and other languages! Here are a few examples.

 

Zu seiner Überraschung fielen alle sieben Fliegen auf den Tisch.

To his surprise, all seven flies fell onto the table.

Caption 12, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Das tapfere Schneiderlein

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Angst vor dem Fliegen hat sie jedenfalls nicht.

Fear of flying, in any case, she does not have.

Caption 4, Im Höhenflug - Ariadne (die Ex von Lothar Matthäus)

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The plural of the insect "fly" (die Fliege) is die Fliegen, and the noun das Fliegen comes from the verb fliegen ("to fly"). We can invent some funny sentences with these word combinations: Haben Fliegen Angst vor fliegen? ("Are flies afraid of flying?") What a silly question!

 

Im Sommer verschmäht er auch Insekten und Spinnen nicht.

In summer, it does not reject insects and spiders, either.

Caption 15, Die letzten Paradiese - Schätze der Natur: Südtirol

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Dieses Konzept ermöglicht das Spinnen von zwei verschiedenen Garnfeinheiten gleichzeitig.
This concept enables the spinning of two different yarn counts simultaneously.

 

The plural of the arachnid "spider" (die Spinne) is die Spinnen, and the noun das Spinnen is yet again a noun derived from the verb spinnen ("to spin"). Sind die Spinnen an all das Spinnen gewöhnt? ("Are the spiders used to all the spinning?") It's logical that the German words for "spinning" and for "spiders" are nearly the same. Spinning webs is what spiders do best, right?

 

Mit dem ersten Band kündigt die junge Autorin ihre literarischen
Ambitionen an.

With the first volume, the young author is announcing her literary ambitions.

 

Die Band ist eingespielt; die Models wissen, wie sie laufen müssen.

The band has warmed up; the models know how they must walk.

Caption 29, Mode - Backstage auf der Modenschau

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Daher umsäumt ein helles Band den Weißensee und gibt ihm seinen Namen.

From that, a bright band surrounds the Weissensee and gives it its name.

Caption 14, Alpenseen - Kühle Schönheiten

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In the three examples above, we see der Band, die Band and das Band, three words that are spelled and pronounced the same, but have different genders and meanings. Der Band means a volume in a set of books; die Band comes from the English word "band" as in a musical group; das Band has the most meanings, and can mean a band such as a silk band, or a belt, ribbon, strap, tie, tape or even the belt in a conveyor belt, depending upon the context. Note too that the three words have different plurals: Der Band = die Bände; die Band = die Bands; das Band = die Bänder (alternately: die Bande). The easiest one here to remember is that since die Band comes from English, its plural is from the English too with -s.

 

Let's go for all three in one sentence, shall we?

 

Welcher Band der Diskografie der Band wurde auf Band aufgenommen?

 

We can decrypt the above by gender: Welcher Band in the nominative case makes for der Band, thus "volume"; der Band is in the genitive case, thus in the nominative case is die Band, or "band" as in musical group; the last Band has no pronoun, but the verb aufgenommen (recorded) tells us it must be referring to magnetic recording tape, thus das Band.

 

Which volume of the band's discography was recorded on tape?

 

Or in plural:

 

Welche Bände der Diskografien der Bands wurden auf Bänder aufgenommen?
Which volumes of the bands' discographies were recorded on tapes?

 

Luckily, this is about as complicated as German gets! In most cases, people would use das Tonband (die Tonbänder) for "recording tape" too. Let's just take a deep breath now and know that even some native German speakers might have some problems with this one.

 

Further Learning
Take a look at these examples of German homophones on Wikipedia and find some examples of the words used in a real-world context on Yabla German. Then see if you can create some German sentences using both homophones in the same sentence. You are allowed to make up silly sentences if you want to, of course!

Same Word, Different Gender!

Arme haben Arme
Arme haben Beine
Beine haben keine Arme
Arme Beine!

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

There are two versions of Arme in the above saying, one meaning "poor people" and the other meaning "arms." Actually, German has many homonyms: words that are spelled and pronounced the same, but have different meanings. These are called homonyms. It is especially important to know the genders of German homonyms, since you may wind up saying or writing something entirely different than you intend, merely because you got the gender wrong!

 

Die Band ist eingespielt; die Models wissen, wie sie laufen müssen.

The band has warmed up; the models know how they must walk.

Caption 29, Mode - Backstage auf der Modenschau

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Allerdings ist es für die Fraport AG nicht das erste Band, das in diesem Jahr feierlich durchtrennt wurde.

However, this is not the first ribbon that was ceremoniously cut for the Fraport AG this year.

Caption 22, Rund um den Flughafen - Direktflug Frankfurt-Houston

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In addition to die Band (the band, or musical group) and das Band (the ribbon), there is also a third meaning: der Band (the volume of a book). Be careful with your genders so that you don't wind up reading a rock band, cutting the volume of a book, or listening to a ribbon!

 

Der damalige Leiter des Museums Wiesbaden tauscht Kunst.

The former director of the Wiesbaden Museum trades art.

Caption 9, Restituierung von Raubkunst - aus der Nazi-Zeit

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Der Herbst steht auf der Leiter [dative case of die Leiter] und malt die Blätter an.

Fall stands on the ladder and paints the leaves.

Caption 13, Sabine und Ivana - Gedichte im Bus

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Der Leiter is the leader, director, or head of an organization, and die Leiter is a ladder. Here too, with the wrong gender you may wind up following the ladder or climbing up a director!

 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Further Learning:

Browse through Yabla videos and find the correct genders of some German homonyms. Here are some examples of homonyms with different genders: Erbe (inheritance vs. inheritor), Gehalt (salary vs. content), Junge (boy vs. young one), Heide (moor vs. heathen), Hut (hat vs. protection), Kiefer (pine tree vs. jaw), Lama (llama vs. Tibetan religious leader), Marsch (march vs. marsh), Messer (knife vs. measuring device), Pony (hairstyle vs. pony), Schild (sign vs. shield), See (sea vs. lake), Steuer (tax vs. steering wheel), Stift (pencil vs. monastery), Tau (rope vs. dew), Taube (pigeon vs. deaf person), Titan (giant vs. titanium), Tor (goal vs. fool), Verdienst (income vs. merit), and Weise (manner vs. wise person). The next lesson will be about German homonyms with the same gender, so put your learning caps on!

Grammar