A HOMOGRAPH

A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as another word but has a different sound and a different meaning:
lead (to go in front of)/lead (a metal)
wind (to follow a course that is not straight)/wind (a gust of air)bass
(low, deep sound)/bass (a type of fish)


A HOMOPHONE

A homophone is a word that has the same sound as another word but is spelled differently and has a different meaning:

to/two/too
there/their/they're
pray/prey


The ending –graph means drawn or written, so a homograph has the same spelling. The –phone ending means sound or voice, so a homophone has the same pronunciation. But here's where it gets tricky.


A HOMONYM

The term homonym is a somewhat ambiguous term if you are looking to contrast it with homographs and homophones. The prefix of the wordhomo is Greek and means “same,” and the root of the word onym means “name.” The literal translation would be “same name” or “same word.”The next logical question to ask then is when talking about words, what should be used to define their names? Should it be their spelling or their pronunciation? The answer, of course, is that both should be taken into consideration.Homonyms, therefore, are defined as two or more words that share the same spelling, or the same pronunciation, or both, but have different meanings. In this sense, homonyms are sort of an overarching umbrella that homographs and homophones both fall under. If you are speaking about homonyms, you are speaking broadly about words with different meanings but similar spellings or sounds. If you are talking about homographs or homophones, you are talking about a more specific word set underneath the homonym label.