There are two definitions of “homonymous”: The first is relating to people having the same names, and the second pertains to the grammatical term “homonym.” “Homonym,” broken into its Latin parts, means “same name,” but it describes certain classes of words. Homographs are different words with identical spellings, regardless of pronunciation (such as the metal “lead” and the verb “to lead”). Homophones are pronounced the same, regardless of spelling (such as “by” and “buy” or “merry” and “marry”). In order for words to be homonymous, they must share one of these characteristics.