THE INTERPRETATION OF HOMONYMS, HOMOPHONES, HOMOGRAPHS, AND PARONYMS IN ENGLISH–UZBEK AND UZBEK–ENGLISH LEARNER'S DICTIONARIES

This article examines the treatment of homonyms, homophones, homographs, and paronyms in English–Uzbek and Uzbek–English learner’s dictionaries. These lexical phenomena are particularly challenging for bilingual lexicography due to their semantic ambiguity, phonetic similarity, and orthographic overlap. Using a comparative and descriptive approach, the study analyzes dictionary entries from major English–Uzbek and Uzbek–English learner’s dictionaries, quantifying the occurrence of these lexical relations and evaluating strategies employed for disambiguation. The findings indicate that homonyms and paronyms are the most frequently misrepresented or inadequately explained, while homophones and homographs are generally provided with limited contextual information. Recommendations for enhancing dictionary microstructure, including the use of contextual examples, phonetic notation, and cross-references, are proposed to improve learner comprehension and communicative efficiency.