The final hiragana makes all the difference in the meanings of these words:
明け渡る (akewataru: to become daylight)
to become light + to spread
明け渡す (akewatasu: to evacuate, surrender)
to break + to hand over都市を敵に明け渡した。
Toshi o teki ni akewatashita.
They surrendered the city to the enemy.都市 (toshi: city) metropolis + city
敵 (teki: opponent; adversary; danger; threat; enemy)
By the way, when I saw the definition of 明け渡す, I wondered what range of events it might cover, since English speakers use “evacuating” for everything from leaving cities during hurricanes to emptying their bowels! I also mused that “evacuation” and “surrender” are very different in English but apparently not in Japanese.
A native speaker explained that 明け渡す applies to a broad range of things, but it’s mainly about leaving a house or building under some kind of outside pressure: “When a feudal lord has lost a battle, he has to evacuate the castle to give it to the winner, so to the Japanese mind, surrendering is a natural extension of evacuating a castle.”
