Nathan Bierma in his language column received a reader question asking if there were just one word, that being "new," where it changes the meaning if you were to add an "s." Nathan came up with:

heroic vs. heroics (adj. to noun)
ruin vs. ruins (verb to noun)
wrap vs. wraps (verb to noun)
chill vs. chills (verb to noun)
spectacle vs. spectacles (meaning)
glass vs. glasses (meaning)
dropping vs. droppings (meaning)

Isn't it interesting that 2 of the meaning words are about wearing glasses or spectacles?

Can you come up with more? If so, I will e-mail him.

I'm not sure I would consider changing the part-of-speech to be changing the (root) meaning of the word. And with that as basis, the premise fails.

If there are multiple meanings of a word, merely switching to a different one by switching the part of speech doesn't qualify as a real change. "Polish/shine", either noun OR verb, and "Polish/from an Eastern European country" - that's a fundamental difference; but "new/recent" and "news/report of something recent" isn't a real difference in meaning, just in inflection.

In my book, anyway.

a vs as (article to adverb, conjunction, preposition, pronoun)
due vs dues (adjective to noun)
saw vs saws (verb to noun)
do vs does (v) vs does (n) vs doughs (?)
princes vs princess (m to f)
sweat vs sweats (garment)
sweet vs sweets (adjective to noun)

Before deciding that the premise fails we need to know if the differences are to be restricted to spelling (orthography) or to include pronunciation (phonology).

As for me, at this point, I'll choose to forget the whole thing.

I agree, we must define what we mean by changing the meaning.

The example given doesn't radically change the meaning: news just means "new stuff".

One example I can think of is die. It could mean a cube with numbers on the faces used in gaming, but dies can only be the verb 'to die'; otherwise it would be dice.

hi vs his vs hiss
I vs is
mr vs mrs

Shu reminded me of this thread from a long time ago.
In that thread there is "drawer" & "drawers" and "cares" & "caress." However, I thought those riddles were great!

I agree, Hab, that "new" and "news" isn't a real good example. I am going to send him some of your answers. Thanks!

quote:

One example I can think of is die. It could mean a cube with numbers on the faces used in gaming, but dies can only be the verb 'to die'; otherwise it would be dice.

"Dies" could mean forms for casting purposes, and in this case, "die" would be the singular.

We have princes --> princess; "male plural" to "female". In the same vein:
ogres --> ogress
abbes --> abbess

Plurals changing to other words:
ass: plural asses --> assess
posse: plural posses --> possess
bra: plural bras --> brass
And if you want to add some strange words:
large ["I'll take a large and a medium."]: plural larges --> largess
ma [married to pa]: plural mas --> mass
mi ["Sing your do re mi."]: plural mis --> miss
la ["fa so la ti do"]: plural las --> lass

Miscellaneous:
a --> as
as --> ass
bus --> buss (a kiss)
do --> DOS (sort of )
ha [laughing: ha ha ha] --> has
pa --> pas (ballet step)
pant (verb) --> pants ("pair of pants")
pas --> pass
scissor (verb) --> scissors ("pair of scissors")
so --> SOS (S.O.S.)
ye --> yes

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hic et ubique,

more >> mores (the customs of a group)
moras¹ (see note below) >> morass
mane >> manes (spirits of the dead)

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¹A mora is "the minimal unit of metrical time in quantitative verse, equal to the short syllable."
The plural is morae or moras.

Reviving a thread...

Bierman had a great letter today regarding his his column on adding s to words. When the letter writer was a student at Cornell, he tutored foreign students in English. One day a student had received a letter from home, and the tutor asked, "Any news from home?" He answered in all seriousness, "Only one new."

It makes perfect sense to me! I'm reminded of a 1950s TV show about an immigrant who was struggling with English idioms. One time the immigrant's boss exclaimed, "What kind of idiot do you think I am!?" She replied, "I do not know - what kind?"

And then there was the befuddled Italian immigrant at Longacres whose boss barked at him, "Go get me a sandwich! And step on it!"

Tinman

These are sounding very Amelia Bedelia-like. I've always liked her because I am a little like her, what with my literalism and all!