Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning. A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym.
Some words are nouns or adjectives when the accent is on the first syllable and verbs when it is on the second.
When the prefix "re-" is prepended to a monosyllabic word, and the word gains currency both as a noun and as a verb, it will probably fit into this pattern, although, as the list below makes clear, most words fitting this pattern do not match that description.
Contents |
Many of these have first syllables that evolved from Latin prepositions, although again that does not account for all of them. Also, some of these words only exhibit the stress alternation in certain varieties of English. For a list of homographs with different pronunciations (heteronyms) see List of heteronyms
One category are words most of which apparently had an original meaning of an activity, and later gained other meanings, such as those engaged in the activity, the product of the activity, the place or time where the activity occurs, or a verb to do the activity. Some began with one of the other meanings above. Here are some examples:
Wiktionary