A few weeks back, my friend Stephanie sent me this message: “Why are there so many words with multiple, seemingly unrelated meanings? For example, a litter can mean newborn animals, trash or to leave trash lying about, AND a basket used in rescues. None of those seem related at all.” Steph is a teacher, so she probably already knows that the word “litter” is a homonym.  You probably learned about it in English class, but your brain has since flushed that fact to make room for other more pertinent things.  Homonyms are words that sound the same, but have different meanings.  Litter is also a homograph. Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have multiple meanings. There are also heteronyms, which are words that are … Read entire article »