heteronyms and homonyms

Heteronyms are words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings and pronunications:

Close (he came close and whispered to me...)

The s is pronounced "ss"

Close ("Close the door, it's cold!" he said)

The s is pronounced "z"

Present (he gave me a nice present)

Present is pronounced "PREsent"

Present (to present a series of photos in an exhibition)

Present is pronounced "preSENT"

wind (moving air)

Pronounced as short i sound

wind (to wrap something)

Pronounced as long i sound (as the i in like and bike)

tear (liquid from eyes when crying)

Pronounced ee

tear (a rip in a cloth)

Pronounced ayr 

desert (abandon) 

Pronounced deSERT

desert (arid region)

Pronounced DEsert

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~cellis/heteronym.html

Homonyms

Here are some words that sound the same, spelled the same, but have different meanings.

bank, crop, bear, peer, sink, pants, slip, slide, dry, fit, class, shine, creep, divide, page, trip, ship, fall, hedge, needle, scrape, riddle, throw, train,

One way to check these words, is to see if they can be a verb (doing word) as well as a noun 

e.g. ship (a vessel that sails) (noun)

      to ship (to transport)

      trip (an outing, excursion) (noun)

    to trip (to fall over something)

http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html