Whoah! The same Chinese Characters but for Different Words? Tips to distinguish the homophones in Chinese

Before we start our topic today on Chinese homophones, let’s first look at the following two sentences:

1. 一朵漂亮的花儿。(Yī duǒ piàoliàng de huār. )
2. 他今天花了一百元。(Tā zuátiān huā le yībǎi yuán.)

We can see that both of these sentences have“花”, whose meanings are totally different. Have you ever thought about why this is so?  Are they one word or two words? If they are one word, why are their meanings so different? If they are two words, why do they use the same character?

In order to explain these questions, we should understand the concept of “homophones”. But before we get to that, it is necessary to explain first what is a homonym.

In Chinese, homonyms are a group of words with the same pronunciation, but their meanings are unrelated. This is very common in many languages, and the reason for this is that syllables are quite limited, and with more and more new things appearing that need to be given words to define them, one pronunciation sometimes ends up expressing more than one thing.

As with other languages, Mandarin Chinese syllables are limited. Even with four tones, there are only about 1200 of them in total, so we end up with a lot of homonyms in Mandarin Chinese. Because Chinese characters also have special forms (depending on the glyph), homonyms in Chinese can be divided into homographs and homophones.

As the name suggests, homophones are a group of words with the same pronunciation, the same character, but different meanings which have no connection. Homophones are two or more than two totally different words (because of this, even native speakers sometimes confuse them with polysemes, which is just one word with several meanings).

Let’s look at the two examples at the beginning of this article again:

花¹ (huā): 一朵漂亮的花儿。(Yī duǒ piàoliàng de huār. )
A beautiful flower.

花²  (huā): 他昨天花了一百元。(Tā zuátiān huā le yībǎi yuán.)
He spent 100 yuan yesterday.

We can clearly see that there is no connection between these two meanings, the first meaning is“ flower”, the second is“spend”. It just happens to use the same character.  So“花¹、花²” is a group of homophones.

Now, look at the following two sentences :

1. 他在教室里。 (Tā zài jiàoshì li.) He is in the classroom now.
2. 他们在食堂里吃饭。(Tāmen zài shítáng li chī fàn. )They have meals in the canteen.

We can see that in sentence(1) “在”is a verb, which indicates the location of a  person or thing, and in sentence (2) “在”is a preposition, which also expresses the location and time. Are they homophones? No, they are not, because there is a clear connection between these two meanings; that is, both of them indicate the location. So these two meanings belong to one word“在”.

Next, I will analyze several groups of homophones to help you understand them more clearly.

1. 花（花¹、花²）

“花” is a level three (HSK3)word in the book “International Curriculum for Chinese Language Education”. When this character was created in ancient China, “花” was meant as a pictographic character, which then became a phonogram, as the following illustration shows:

“花¹” indicates the very beginning of its meaning, which is“part of a plant from which the seed or fruit develops, often brightly coloured and lasting only a short time”. Other meanings of “花¹” as shown in the following chart, all extend from this meaning.

花1
Flower; blossom; bloom	一朵花 (yī duǒ huā ) a flower	noun
anything resembling a flower	雪花 (xuě huā) snowflake
fireworks	烟花(yān huā) fireworks
young and beatiful girl or woman	校花(xiào huā)
multicoloured; coloured；variegated	小花狗(xiǎo huā gǒu) spotted puppy   花蝴蝶(huā hú dié) variegated butterfly	adj
blurred; dim	眼花(yǎn huā)have dim eyesight
Fancy; florid; flowery; showy	你的字太花了。(Nǐ de zì tài huā le .)   Your handwriting is too fancy.

“花²” is a verb, indicating “spend“ or „expend“. For example, “花钱、花时间”.

花2
spend；expend	花钱(huā qián) spend money   很花时间 (hěn huā shí jiān ) take a lot of time

2. 白 (白¹ 、白²、白³、白⁴)

When learning colors, you will certainly learn how to say white, or “白色”. In the book “International Curriculum for Chinese Language Education”, “白”is a word in level 2 (HSK2), and it doesn’t point out “白” is part of a group of homophones.

Actually, “白” includes  4 meanings: “白¹、白²、白³、白⁴”.  Just like with ”花”,this character’s origins are in ancient China, and it indicates the shape of candlelight.

It means “bright and clear“, as we can see in the phrase “东方发白(dōngfāng fā bái); 真相大白(zhēnxiàng dà bái)”. Later it would refer to the colour white: “我买了一条白裙子(Wǒ mǎi le yītiáo bái qúnzi) “ I bought a white dress”. There are some other meanings for “白¹” the connections of which you can see in the following chart:

白1
bright	东方发白(dōngfāng fā bái)   The eastern sky is turning fish-belly grey; day breaks.	adj
clear	真相大白(zhēnxiàng dà bái) Come out in the wash.
white	我买了一条白裙子。(Wǒ mǎi le yī tiáo bái qúnzi.)   I bought a white dress.
nothing inside	白开水 (báikāishuǐ) Plain boiled water.
funeral affairs	白事(báishì)
Look at somebody with the white of the eye—give somebody a supercilious or superior look	我白了他一眼。 (Wǒ bái le tā yī yǎn.)   I gave him a supercilious look.	verb

“白²” as an adverb has the following meanings:

白2
in vain; to no purpose; for nothing	白跑了一回 (bái pǎo le yī huí)   Make a fruitless trip	adv
free of charge	白送  (bái sòng)  give away free (of charge)

“白³ ” as an adjective indicates  something written incorrectly or mispronounced (of a chinese character). For example, “你把字念白了” which means “you pronounce  the character wrongly”, the same meaning with the sentence ”你把字念错了”.

白3
(of a chinese character) written incorrectly or mispronounced	你把字念白了。(Nǐ bǎ zì niàn bái le. )   You pronounce the character incorrectly.	adj

“白⁴” must combine with other morphemes to become a complete word and it cannot be used alone in expressing its meaning.

白4
state; explain	我对她表白了。(Wǒ duì tā biǎobái le.)   I expressed love for her.

3. 别 （别¹、别²、别³、别⁴）

“别”is a level two (HSK2) word and also a group of homophones, including “别¹”“别²”“别³”“别⁴”, four words with four meanings. The origin of this character is as an associative compound. On the left side, it is a knife, and on the right side, it is a bone. Combining these two parts , “别” has the original meaning “分剖 (fēnpōu)”, and this is also the main meaning of“别¹”, as shown in the following chart:

别1
leave; part	别了，我的家乡。(Bié le, wǒ de jiāxiāng.)   Goodbye, my hometown.	verb
other; another	别人  (biérén)  other people	pronoun
别2
differentiate;   distinguish	区别真假 (qūbié zhēn jiǎ)   distinguish whether it’s true or false	verb
difference; distinction	男女有别 (nánnǚ yǒu bié)   there is a distinction between the sexes	noun
classification;   category	性别 (xìngbié)   gender
别3
fasten with a pin or clip	把表格别在一起。   (Bǎ biǎogé bié zài yīqǐ.) Pin （or clip）the forms together.	verb
stick in	把门别上 (bǎ mén bié shàng)   bolt the door
别4
(used in giving commands or advice) don’t ; had better not	别忘了。(Bié wàng le.)   Don’t forget.	adv

4. 生气 （生气¹，生气²）

Homophones can be polysyllabic words, for example, “生气” is also included in a group of homophones. Look at the chart below:

生气1
angry	妈妈很生气。(māma hěn shēngqì.)   Mother is very angry.	verb
生气2
vital	小孩子是最有生气的。   (Xiǎo háizi shì zuì yǒu shēngqì de.) Children are the most vital people.	noun

After reading this article, I hope you will see and understand how Mandarin Chinese can have homophones, where one word can have totally different meanings. But once you are aware of this, not only will your vocabulary improve, it will also give you more ways of expressing yourself when you speak or write in Mandarin Chinese.