Language similarities

[PatPL]

Many languages have words, that can mean few different things, like rock(music) and rock(just a rock)

Word from your language | Meaning1(English) | Meaning2(English) etc.

I'm first, so:

Zamek | Castle | Lock | Zip

[*Aqua*]

You mean homonyms?

[PatPL]

No, i mean words, that look the same, you say it the same, but it means different things like saw(past form of see or saw for cutting things)

[mythbusters844]

Perisan: (excuse my latinization; I don't know how to write in Persian [i can only speak it lol])

"Sheer" can mean milk, a faucet/tap, and a lion. I know, right?

[Felsmak]

The Swedish word gift, pronounced 'yift', can mean both poison and married.

A few examples:

Giftförsäljaren försörjer sig på att sälja gift.

The poison vendor sells poison for a living.

Giftförsäljaren är gift med en annan giftförsäljare.

The poison vendor is married to another poison vendor.

[rtxoff]

indeed, poison and marriage have much in common

[Felsmak]

No, i mean words, that look the same, you say it the same, but it means different things like saw(past form of see or saw for cutting things)

And that would be a homonym, just like Aqua said.

"In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings."

- Wikipedia

Anyway, here's more Swedish! The word finne can mean both pimple and Finn, i.e. a person from Finland.

Jag såg en finne klämma en finne på tunnelbanan igår.

I saw a Finn pop a zit on the subway yesterday.

Finnar får inte fler finnar än andra människor.

Finns don't get more pimples than other people.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Felsmak

[Kryten]

If you include tonal variants as being the same word, there are a ridiculous number of these in Chinese. A good example would be 'the Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den', a complete poem made out of tonal variants of 'shi'.

[lajoswinkler]

Those are called homonyms. Same spelling, same pronounciation, different meaning. Not very common words.

Croatian:

bor | boron | Pinus sp.

mol | SI unit | minor musical scale

[PatPL]

Gniazdko | nest | socket

[razark]

literally | in a literal manner or sense | used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true

cleave | to divide by or as if by a cutting blow | to adhere firmly and closely

Do you want words with different pronunciations? There's wind and wind, or bow and bow and bow and bow.

[Omicron314]

Aside from the Russian ÷ðüþú, which is a cognate of the first Polish word here, I'm also a fan of the word 'üуúð', meaning either 'pain/anguish' or 'flour'.

And there is always my old enemy from Latin class volo (I fly) and volo (I want). Omina (signs) and omnia (everything) is also annoying, but it's not strictly a homonym.

[Jouni]

Finnish:

kuusi | six | spruce | your moon

palaa | returns | is one fire | pieces

[PatPL]

Rakieta | Rocket | Racket

[mythbusters844]

Persian (latinized):

Kooh can mean both "mountain" and "where".

For example, "Oon kooh kooh?" is "Where is that mountain?"