Sound and Sense, 40

We’re moving next to the homophone: a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air. So … contronyms are words that have contradictory meanings (sanctiion = approve and disapprove; homophones sound alike but to not mean the same—and often are not spelled the same, either.

Beau (noun): a frequent and attentive male companion

Bow (noun): a stringed device for shooting an arrow

Yes, Robin Hood was quite a beau,

So skilled with his most famous bow.

And Marian, so in the know,

Declared her love for Robin Hood,

Who recognized that this was good,

And straightened up his neighborhood—

That forest, Sherwood, from the tales,

Where Robin hid from laws and jails

With many other green-clad males.

But Robin didn’t give a damn—

He’d found his love, his loving lamb.

Forget the Sheriff of Nottingham!

And Robin, Marian would wed

(Although the Sheriff wished him dead)

And spend a lot of time in bed.

But moods of Merry Men turned black—

They gave R. Hood a bunch of flak:

They wanted their old outlaw back!

But he was now a married man—

And bought a life-insurance plan

From some weird agent, name of Dan.