Paronym

{{Short description|Similar-sounding word with different meaning}} {{Distinguish|Patronym}} {{Redirect|Paronymous|the butterfly genus|Paronymus}} {{Wiktionary|paronym}} {{More citations needed|date=June 2017}} '''Paronyms''' are near-homophones ("soundalike"), near-homographs ("lookalike") and/or near-cognates ("meanalike") — words that are similar but not identical in pronunciation, spelling, or lexical meaning — which may cause confusion in their understanding (reception) and usage (production).<ref name=Routledge>{{Citation |title=Dictionary of Lexicography |author1=R.R.K.Hartmann |author2=Gregory James |year=2002 |page=106 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref> '''Paronymy''' is the relationship between a pair of words or phrases which are similar or partially identical in spelling, pronunciation and/or meaning.<ref name=Routledge />

In the discussion of semantic analysis, the term ''paronym'' can also be used in a narrower sense to refer to words that are derived from the same root, i.e. cognate words.<ref>{{Cite OED|paronym}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics |author=David Crystal |page=351 |year=2008 |edition=6th |publisher=Blackwell publishers}}</ref>

==Examples== ===English=== Examples of English paronyms include: {{div col}} * ''accept'' and ''except'' * ''affect'' and ''effect'' * ''alternately'' and ''alternatively'' * ''altitude'' and ''attitude'' * ''artful'' and ''artistic'' * ''artist'' and ''artisan'' * ''authoritative'' and ''authoritarian'' * ''barely'' and ''barley'' * ''billion'' and ''bullion'' * ''breath'' and ''breadth'' * ''capable'' and ''culpable'' * ''childish'' and ''childlike'' * ''cognitive'' and ''cognizant'' * ''collision'' and ''collusion'' * ''command'' and ''commend'' * ''confident'' and ''confidant'' * ''conjuncture'' and ''conjecture'' * ''conservationism'' and ''conservatism'' * ''continuous'' and ''contiguous'' * ''controller'' and ''comptroller'' * ''coral'' and ''corral'' * ''country'' and ''county'' * ''death'' and ''dearth'' * ''defiant'' and ''deviant'' * ''deprecate'' and ''depreciate'' * ''desperate'' and ''disparate'' * ''detergent'' and ''deterrent'' * ''deviant'' and ''devious'' * ''discord'' and ''discourse'' * ''eclipse'' and ''ellipse'' * ''exception'' and ''exemption'' * ''excise'' and ''exercise'' * ''express'' and ''espresso'' * ''extent'' and ''extant'' * ''fitness'' and ''finesse'' * ''flail'' and ''fail'' * ''flaunt'' and ''flout'' * ''gauge'' and ''gouge'' * ''graceful'' and ''gracious'' * ''haven'' and ''heaven'' * ''historical'' and ''hysterical'' * ''infection'' and ''inflection'' * ''influence'' and ''affluence'' * ''innocent'' and ''innocuous'' * ''inspiration'' and ''aspiration'' * ''lightning'' and ''lightening'' * ''lovely'' and ''lovable'' * ''massage'' and ''message'' * ''motive'' and ''motif'' * ''paronym'' and ''patronym'' * ''plague'' and ''plaque'' * ''popular'' and ''populous'' * ''present'' and ''presence'' * ''president'' and ''precedent'' * ''proceed'' and ''precede'' * ''prolepsis'' and ''proslepsis'' * ''quiet'' and ''quite'' * ''recurring'' and ''re-occurring'' * ''right'' and ''rite'' * ''sensitive'' and ''sensible'' * ''sentiment'' and ''sediment'' * ''succeed'' and ''secede'' * ''stupid'' and ''stupor'' * ''telegraph'' and ''telegram'' * ''temple'' and ''templar'' * ''terrible'' and ''terrific'' * ''trifle'' and ''truffle'' * ''upmost'' and ''utmost'' * ''willing'' and ''willful'' * ''wreck'' and ''wreak'' {{div col end}}

== See also == * -onym * Eggcorn * Heteronym (linguistics) * Paronymic attraction * Word ladder

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Semantic relations Category:Types of words