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This is a single word request for a word that can be told apart from another word — in speech — only by where the stress falls.

For example incite /ɪn'sʌɪt/ is different from insight /ˈɪnsʌɪt/ only in the fact that the stress is on the second syllable instead of the first. The words can still be told apart when spoken, even though all the consonants and vowels are the same.

The verb project /prəˈdʒɛkt/ and the noun project /ˈprɒdʒɛkt/ are not actually an example of this, because the vowel sounds are also different (the o becomes a schwa in the verb).

Apart from insight/incite, there are also billow/below and insult(noun)/insult(verb).

Is there a fourth example of this? A word that can be told apart from another word with a different meaning, only by the placement of the stress?

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – tchrist
    Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 4:56

2 Answers 2

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There are lots more of them. Go to one of the lists that tchrist posted links to, and look for ones where dictionaries will represent them with the same phonemes:

Discard,
Torment,
Transport.

If you want a pair that isn't spelled the same, how about

inker and incur?

These are definitely the same except for stress in General American English, and in many dialects of British English, including RP, the only difference between the vowels /ə/ and /ɜː/ is the length and the stress, despite the fact that they are represented by different IPA symbols,

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Inclined (sloping) Inclined (likely to do)

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