Word class confusion

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English has many pairs of words that are written the same way (they are homographs), but whose meaning is different. Often, a difference in pronunciation distinguishes meaning.

For example, the verb 'to record' and the noun 'a record' are pronounced with the stress on different syllables.

Cryptic crosswords often make use of word class confusion to mislead puzzlers. For example in this clue from Everyman in The Observer "Important zoological area shown in quality book (6, 7)", the puzzler assumes 'book' to mean the noun 'book', meaning a physical object. In fact, the word should be taken as the verb 'to book', meaning 'to reserve'. (This, incidentally, solves the second half of the clue for you.)