Homonyms are words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings. The term comes from the Greek roots "homo" meaning same and "nym" meaning name. Examples provided include bark (tree vs dog sound), bat (flying mammal vs hitting implement), bear (withstand vs animal), die (stop living vs gambling cube), rose (flower vs got up), tire (exhaust vs wheel cushion), and mouse (computer tool vs rodent). Context clues are needed to understand which meaning is intended. Homonyms can confuse young or ESL readers unfamiliar with alternate definitions.