Can a bear BEAR it?

Bear and bear— two little words — both share the same spelling but have different meanings.

Bear (noun) is the large growling creature or may be you prefer the friendly kind like Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, Yogi Bear ot The Three Bears(friends of Goldilocks).

The verb

‘to bear’ has a variety of meanings. Its past tense is

bore (it bore fruit) and its participle is

borne (it has borne fruit). It could be used in the following contexts. It can mean to yield, to exhibit or to endure. So, you talk of trees that bear fruits or a child bearing a strong resemblance to its mother/father, or somebody who is strong enough to endure the biting cold out there!

To

grin and bear is to smile during a storm. Bear with me , the standard expression, is a request for forbearance or patience.

So, you can bear a grudge against someone or bear the brunt of something or you can’t bear to listen to your grand old aunt repeat the same old story for the umpteenth time. It’s up to you!

They are spelt the same and sound similar, but... they have different meanings.