Paronym
Paronyms are words that are pronounced or written in a similar way but which have different lexical meanings. Paronyms contrast with homonyms, which are words with different meaning having the same pronunciation or spelling. Examples of paronyms include:
- alternately and alternatively
- collision and collusion
- conjuncture and conjecture
- excise and exercise
- prolepsis and proslepsis
- continuous and contiguous
- affect and effect
- upmost and utmost
- deprecate and defecate
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Some paronyms are truly synonymous, but only under the rarest of conditions. They often lead to confusion.
The term paronym can also refer to words that are derived from the same root, i.e. cognate words.[1]
References
- "paronym". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
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