Lexical decisions with homophones and homonyms

In two experiments homophones, homonyms, and control words were presented aurally in a lexical decision task. Response times for homophones were significantly faster than those for homonyms and control words, whereas the latter two did not differ. It was concluded that lexical decision times do not provide evidence for multiple entries in the internal lexicon for homonyms. The possibility is considered that the superior performance with homophonic words also does not reflect activation of multiple entries corresponding to multiple meanings, but instead the utilization of orthographic information. This study was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.