Heteronym
"Wound" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say WOOND when it means an injury (noun), and WOWND when it means past tense of "wind" (to coil) (verb). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
noun
WOOND
an injury
“The wound healed slowly.”
verb
WOWND
past tense of "wind" (to coil)
“She wound the string tightly.”
Each button speaks the respelling, not the spelling — otherwise the speech engine would pick a single default pronunciation for both senses.
| Pronunciation | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| WOOND | noun | an injury |
| WOWND | verb | past tense of "wind" (to coil) |
"Wound" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say WOOND when it means an injury (noun), and WOWND when it means past tense of "wind" (to coil) (verb). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
Pronounced WOOND, "wound" is a noun meaning an injury. For example: "The wound healed slowly."
Pronounced WOWND, "wound" is a verb meaning past tense of "wind" (to coil). For example: "She wound the string tightly."
"Wound" is a heteronym: two distinct words that happen to be spelled the same way. English spelling did not standardise around pronunciation, so unrelated words sometimes converged on one spelling while keeping separate sounds.
See the full entry for “wound”, browse all 76 heteronyms and stress pairs, or learn how English stress works.