How many polyphonic words are there?

There are more than 600 polyphonic words listed in Xinhua Dictionary, and there are as many as 5 pronunciations of individual words.

A disyllabic word means that a word has two or more pronunciations. Different pronunciations have different meanings, different usages and different parts of speech. Pronunciation has the function of distinguishing part of speech and meaning; According to different usages and pronunciations, pronunciations have different functions.

Extended data

There are five common usages of polyphonic words:

1, pronunciation can distinguish part of speech from meaning. This kind of polyphonic words is called "staccato" in classical Chinese, accounting for about 80% of all polyphonic words. We should distinguish and remember these polyphonic words according to their different pronunciations. Such as "Jiang": jiāng (can be used as a verb or adverb, etc. ), verbs are ok.

2. Different usages have different pronunciations and different usages. Such as "thin": báo, which means not thick, generally used alone, pancakes, thin paper; Bó, commonly used as a compound word, is a small gift, rich in the past and thinner than the present; Bo, mint (proper noun)

3. Different styles and pronunciations can distinguish styles, mainly in spoken and written language. Such as "give": oral reading G ě I; Read jǐ in written language, give and provide.

4. The existence of dialect words causes polyphony. This kind of polyphonic words are relatively few, limited to some areas. Such as "te": tè, poor te (meaning error); Tu: (dialect) The wind is too strong, the house is too small (too) and so on.

5. Some interchangeable words in classical Chinese have been used to this day, resulting in polyphony. The common usage is different from the names of people and places, resulting in polyphony.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Disyllabic Words