In Russian, some words are spelled the same but pronounced differently, which gives them completely different meanings. These words are called homographs, and they can be tricky for learners because a single misplaced stress changes everything.
Here are a few interesting examples:
🐿️ бе́лки (squirrels) — 🥚 белки́ (egg whites; proteins)
🥃 ви́ски (whiskey) — 👤 виски́ (temples — sides of the head)
☀️ жа́ркое (hot) — 🍲 жарко́е (a meat stew)
🌾 хло́пок (cotton plant) — 👏 хлопо́к (a clap sound)
🏰 за́мок (castle) — 🔒 замо́к (lock)
As you can see, the spelling stays the same, but the stress determines the meaning. That’s why listening carefully to native pronunciation is essential when learning Russian vocabulary.
🔎 For checking stress, you can use an орфоэпический словарь.
To be continued… Stay tuned for more posts about Russian stress and challenging vocabulary.
✍️ Do you know any other Russian homographs? Drop a comment below!
For more tricky Russian words, check out Russian only-plural nouns.