HOMOGRAPHS

When one main entry has exactly the same written form as another, the two are distinguished by superscript numerals preceding each word:

Main Entry: ¹melt
Function: verb

Main Entry: ²melt
Function: noun

Main Entry: ¹pine
Function: noun

Main Entry: ²pine
Function: intransitive verb

Sometimes such homographs are related: the two entries melt are derived from the same root. Sometimes there is no relationship: the two entries pine are unrelated beyond the accident of spelling. The order of homographs is usually historical: the one first used in English is entered first. A homograph derived from an earlier homograph by functional shift, however, follows its parent immediately, with the result that occasionally one homograph appears ahead of another that is older in usage. For example, of the three entries kennel the second (a verb) is derived from the first (a noun). Even though the unrelated third entry kennel was used in English many years before the second, it follows the two related entries.

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