In a member access of the form E.I, if E is a single identifier, and if the meaning of E as a simple-name (14.5.2) is a constant, field, property, local variable, or parameter with the same type as the meaning of E as a type-name (10.8), then both possible meanings of E are permitted. The two possible meanings of E.I are never ambiguous, since I must necessarily be a member of the type E in both cases. In other words, the rule simply permits access to the static members of E where a compile-time error would otherwise have occurred.

[Example: For example:

struct Color { public static readonly Color White = new Color(...); public static readonly Color Black = new Color(...); public Color Complement() {...} } class A { public Color Color; // Field Color of type Color void F() { Color = Color.Black; // References Color.Black static member Color = Color.Complement(); // Invokes Complement() on Color field } static void G() { Color c = Color.White; // References Color.White static member } }

Within the A class, those occurrences of the Color identifier that reference the Color type are underlined, and those that reference the Color field are not underlined. end example]