Paronym
Similar-sounding word with different meaning
Look up paronym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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 English paronyms include:
- alternately and alternatively
- collision and collusion
- conjuncture and conjecture
- eclipse and ellipse
- excise and exercise
- prolepsis and proslepsis
- continuous and contiguous
- affect and effect
- upmost and utmost
- deprecate and depreciate
The term paronym can also refer to words that are derived from the same root, i.e. cognate words.[1]
See also
- -onym
- Eggcorn
- Heteronym (linguistics)
- Paronymic attraction
- Word ladder
References
- ^ "paronym". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
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