A word that characteristics of both a verb and a noun

There are many words in the English language that are spelled alike but pronounced differently according to whether the word is used as a noun or as a verb.

The same pronunciation:

The play we saw yesterday was very good. (noun)

The kids always play in the afternoon. (verb)

Different pronunciation:

The last remark was an insult. (noun)

How dare you insult me? (verb)

A word can be used as both a noun and a verb, depending on its place within a sentence and its function. The way to know when a specific word is acting as noun or verb depends on whether the word is defining a name or an action. There are many words in English that work both as verb and noun at the same time. However, there is one specific structure, called the gerund, which is the ing form of a verb that can also work as a noun. For example, running. Although run is originally a verb, when placed at the beginning of the sentece as running, it remains an action but at the same time it is the name given to that action.