Homonyms from Brewed to Byre

by Lisa Binion

With how many of the following homonyms are you familiar? Please realize that each word may have many more definitions than the one that I mention. It would take up far too much space to try and acquaint you with every definition for each word.

brewed and brood
Brewed is commonly used to refer to the preparation of beer; it means fermented.
Todd checked on the taste of the beer that had brewed for four weeks.
A brood is the young of an animal or human family.
Mrs. Jenkins took her brood of twelve children to a restaurant once every six months.

brews and bruise
If you have more than one beer, you have two or more brews.
Johnny, because he still needed to be able to drive, had only two brews.
A bruise is a discolored part on one’s skin due to an injury from a fall or blow.
A bruise was the only injury Jenny received from her car wreck.

bridal and bridle
Bridal refers to one or more brides or something that pertains to brides.
The new bridal boutique on the corner quickly gained customers.
A bridle is part of the headgear that is used to control the movements of a horse.
Jason received a beautiful new bridle for his horse for his birthday.

broach and brooch
Someone will broach, or bring up, a subject when he mentions it for the very first time.
No one seemed to be willing to broach the subject of their financial situation.
A brooch is an ornament with a pin on the back so it can be inserted through the cloth of a shirt.
Her grandmother’s brooch was definitely an antique, dating all the way back to the family of the first president.

brows and browse
Brows are the edges of steep places, such as hills or cliffs.
Daniel traveled to several brows that day in an attempt to find the perfect one off of which to take off in his glider.
Browse is a verb that means to look through or skim over casually.
If not in a hurry, Sheila would browse through the selection of movies for hours before choosing which one to rent.

bundt and bunt
A bundt cake has a hole in the middle and scalloped sides.
The thief dropped the stolen ring in the batter of the bundt cake; he planned on retrieving it later.
Bunt is to push something with the head or horns.
My Irish wolfhound, Shane, would bunt those he thought were intruders out of the yard.

burgher and burger
A burgher is a citizen or inhabitant of a town.
During medieval times, a burgher was a merchant or tradesman of a city.
A burger is a meat sandwich.
The spoiled dog refused everything until he was offered a burger, complete with all of the toppings.

bus and buss
A bus is a large motor vehicle designed to carry lots of people.
The youth group rented a bus to transport every member of their group to the Third Day concert.
A buss is a kiss.
The buss shared by the bride and groom lasted so long that their guests threw the rice on them inside the church.

bussed and bust
Bussed means kissed.
The young couple bussed for the first time in the back seat of an old Chevrolet convertible on a hot summer evening.
A bust is a sculpture of just the head and shoulders.
The antique bust of George Washington was kept behind glass in the museum.

but and butt
But is a conjunction. One of its meanings is ‘except .
Everyone in the group, but Julie, was excited about their trip to Mammoth Cave.
A butt is the end part of something, such as a cigarette, that is not used.
She found a cigarette butt on top of each of the cracks in the sidewalk.

buy, by, and bye
Buy means to purchase.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were hoping to buy their first home.
By is a preposition. One of its meanings is ‘within the period of’.
By day, she was a mild-mannered beautician; by night, she was a crime fighter.
Bye means farewell.
She gritted her teeth as she said bye to the rude and obnoxious salesman.

buyer and byre
A buyer is a purchaser.
The buyer for the valuable painting by Da Vinci was a wealthy merchant from Venice.
A byre is a barn for cows, a stall.
Tom turned the building he used for storage into a byre for the ten cows he had purchased.