In the National Puzzlers League, one restriction is that if you are cluing two words, they cannot come from the same root. After all, the clue:
Weaken beneath incision (9) = UNDER + CUT
… is hardly cryptic, because “cut” and “undercut” are really two different forms of the same word (and “under” means the exact same thing in both the clue and the solution).
This can get complicated because some meanings of a word can seem unrelated but actually stem from the same root word. This is particularly an issue with double definition cryptic clues. Consider:
Make-up case agreement (7)
The answer is COMPACT. And while political alliances and make-up cases don’t seem to have anything to do with one another, they both stem from the same root: the Latin word compactus, meaning “to put together.” Ultimately the two version of “compact” are both the same word.
If you and your editor think clues like this are okay, by all means go right ahead. But if you get someone more picky (even if it’s just yourself), then here is a list of words that are spelled the same but come from completely different etymologies:
AGAPE: (1) mouth open (adj) (2) brotherly love (n)
ARM: (1) limb (n) (2) supply with weapons (v)
AXES: (1) chopping tools (n) (2) center lines (n), coordinate system indicators (n)
BASES: (1) bottoms (n) (2) plural of “basis” (n)
BASS: (1) type of fish (n) (2) low, deep voice (n)
BAT: (1) piece of sports equipment (n) (2) an animal (n)
BEAR: (1) carry (v) (2) animal (n)
BOW: (1) type of knot (n), supplicate (v) (2) front of a ship (n)
BOWER: (1) arbor (n) (2) one who supplicates (n), (3) a ship’s anchor (n)
BUFFET: (1) knock about (v) (2) serving table (n)
CAVE: (1) cavern (n) (2) give in (v)
CLEAVE: (1) split into two parts (v) (2) join together (v)
COMPOUND: (1) to add to (v) (2) set of buildings (n)
CONSOLE: (1) dashboard (n) (2) comfort (v)
CONVERSE: (1) discuss (v) (2) opposite (adj)
DECREASE: (1) reduce (v) (2) iron flat (v)
DESERT: (1) barren land (n), to abandon (v) (2) something deserved, as in “just deserts” (n)
DO: (1) perform (v), party (n), hairstyle (n) (2) musical note (n)
DOES: (1) female deer (n) (2) third person singular tense of the verb “to do” (v)
DOVE: (1) bird (n) (2) past tense of “to dive” (v)
ENTRANCE: (1) way in (n) (2) hypnotize (v)
EVENING: (1) smoothing out (v) (2) after sunset (n)
FLOWER: (1) blossom (n) (2) something that flows (n)
FOREARM: (1) the arm below the elbow (n) (2) prepare (v)
GILL: (1) a fish’s breathing organ (n) (2) a unit of liquid measurement (n)
GRAM: (1) unit of weight (n) (2) grandmother (n)
GRAVE: (1) serious (adj), type of accent mark (n) (2) tomb (n)
JUST: (1) fair (adj) (2) barely or simply (adv)
LAP: (1) thighs when sitting (n) (2) lick up (v)
LAY: (1) lie down (v) (2) secular (adj), amateur (adj), ballad (n)
LEAD: (1) show the way (v) (2) metallic element (n)
LEFT: (1) direction (n) (2) past tense of “to leave” (v)
LIE: (1) recline (v) (2) misrepresent the truth (v)
LIED: (1) misrepresented the truth (v) (2) German song (n)
LOW: (1) close to the ground (adj) (2) moo like a cow (n)
MARE: (1) female horse (n) (2) flat expanse on the moon (n)
METER (1) to measure (v), unit of length (n) (2) musical rhythm (n)
MOLE: (1) animal (n) (2) skin blemish (n) (3) a number of molecules (n)
MOPED: (1) was gloomy (v) (2) small motorbike (n)
NUMBER: (1) more numb (adj) (2) numerical value (n)
PALLED: (1) acted in a friendly manner (v) (2) dwindled (v)
PATE: (1) head (n) (2) a paste of chopped meat (n)
PEER: (1) equal (n) (2) stare (v)
PREDATE: (1) come before (v) (2) prey upon (v)
PROCESS: (1) procedure (n), refine or distill (v) (2) walk (v)
PUSSY: (1) cat (n) (2) filled with pus (adj)
PUTTING: (1) placing in position (v) (2) knocking a golf ball across the green (v)
RE: (1) concerning (adv) (2) musical note (n)
REAL: (1) factual or genuine (adj) (2) former Spanish coin (n)
REALLY: (1) actually (adj) (2) join forces again (v)
REFUSE: (1) say no (v), trash (n) (2) join back together (v)
RESORT: (1) vacation spot (n), recourse (n) (2) reorganize (v)
ROW: (1) line (n) (2) argument (n) (3) propel a boat (v)
ROSE: (1) past tense of “to rise” (v) (2) flower (n), color (n)
SAKE: (1) benefit (n) (2) rice wine (n)
SEWER: (1) drain (n) (2) tailor (n)
SHOWER: (1) downpour (n) (2) presenter at an exhibition (n)
SLAVER: (1) drool (n) (2) slave trader (n)
SLOUGH: (1) muddy backwater (n) (2) snakeskin (n)
SOW: (1) plant crops (v) (2) female pig (n)
SUPPLY: (1) provisions (n), provide necessities (v) (2) with flexibility (adv)
TARRY: (1) linger (v) (2) covered with tar (adj)
TEAR: (1) rip up (v) (2) secretion of the eye (n)
TIER: (1) level or rank (n) (2) one who ties (n)
TINGED: (1) colored or shaded (adj) (2) made a sharp sound (v)
UNIONIZED: (1) organized labor (adj) (2) rendered chargeless (adj)
WIND: (1) movement of air (n) (2) wrap or coil (v)
WORSTED: (1) defeated (v) (2) type of yarn (n)
WOUND: (1) past tense of “wind” (v) (2) injury (n)
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Honorable Mention goes to a list of words that just happen to be spelled the same as unrelated proper nouns: Job, Mobile, Munch, Natal, Nice, Polish, Rainer, Ravel, Reading, Scone, Sol, Tangier, Tours, and Trier
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Didn’t Make the List: Just to satisfy your curiosity, here is a list of words with multiple definitions that, unexpectedly, end up having come from the same root word: abstract, affect, close, content, down, drawer, exploit, incense, intern, invalid, layer, minute, object, pasty, present, proceeds, project, record, recreate, resume/résumé, right, routed, second, and subject
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A side discussion, just for fun:
A lot of this seems counter-intuitive. It makes sense to me that the two definitions for the word “arms” — weapons, but also the body parts you use to wield those weapons — should come from the same root, but they do not:
- “Arms” in the sense of “weapons” comes to us from the Latin word arma meaning “implements of war, weapons, equipment” from the Indo-European root h2er-
- “Arms” in the sense of “body parts” comes to us from the Latin word armus meaning “forequarter of an animal” from the Indo-European root h2orH-mo-
Similarly, it would seem that the two definitions of the word “drawer” — “an artist” and “a compartment in a piece of furniture” — can’t possibly be related, but they are: both stemming from the Old English word dragan, which itself was derived from the Old Norse word draga, meaning “to drag.” You “drag” a pen across the paper when you draw, I guess, and you “drag” the drawer from out of its piece of furniture.
And for those fellow word-nerds out there, another fascinating fact:
Not only do the two different (and antonymous) definitions of “to cleave” — “to cling to” and “to chop apart” — indeed come from different bases, but apparently this confusing contradiction in terms has been around for a long, long time, because both meanings follow parallel paths backwards in time:
| English | cleave (v) cling to | cleave (v) chop apart |
| Middle English | clevien | cleven |
| Old English | clifian | cleofan |
… at which point, their paths diverge: the former to the High German and the latter back to Ancient Greek.
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