Language Arts Terms

noun a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word

• The antonym of 'happy' is 'sad'.
• The opposite of 'big' is 'small'.
• The slang term for antonym is 'opposite'.
• In life, sometimes the antonym of success is failure.

noun the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named

• The poet used onomatopoeia to vividly describe the sounds of nature in his latest work.
• I love how onomatopoeia makes comic books more fun to read with all the sound effects.
• The rapper's lyrics are full of onomatopoeia that really bring his songs to life.
• The artist's use of onomatopoeia in her painting created a sense of movement and energy.

noun a word that is spelled the same as another word but has a different pronunciation and meaning, such as 'bow' (to bend) and 'bow' (a type of weapon)

adjective describing a word that has different pronunciations and meanings depending on context or usage

• The English language is full of heteronyms, words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and pronunciations.
• It's so confusing when you come across heteronyms in English, like 'bow' meaning both to bend and a type of weapon.
• I hate when I see heteronyms on a spelling test, it always trips me up.
• Heteronyms are like linguistic puzzles, where you have to figure out the pronunciation based on the context of the sentence.