[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Synonyms or homonyms? 「私立」 and 「 市立」 are of the latter kind, I think.

Technically, they're homophones.

Homo = same
nym = name

So two words being homonyms means they have the same spelling (and pronunciation).

Homographs (graph = writing) are words spelled the same irrespective of pronunciation (see "read" and "read" where one is the past tense and one is present tense of the verb "to read").

Homophones (phone = sound) are words pronounced the same irrespective of writing (a car tire and the verb tire, which is what happens as you run a marathon (and, FWIW, Angles and non-native speakers alike, "tire" is how we Yanks spell "tyre")).

These words may not be fully intended for a Japanese context, however, since both words have the kana written form しりつ (i.e., the same) but different kanji forms. So do they have the same written form or not?

They're definitely homophones, though (same pronunciation). That is, unless you're going to tell me, like 箸 and 橋, they have different pitch accent.

*takes off his pedant hat*

Personally I always have problem with my pronunciation of コンニャク and 婚約.

(And, for what it's worth, I didn't even notice the "synonym" mistake until masaegu pointed it out. I guess here's an instance of two native speakers getting brutally pwned by a non-native speaker.)

Info: Homonym - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personally, I like capitonyms, words that change in meaning when you capitalize the first letter (e.g., I polish the silver, which was given to me by my Polish grandmother).