Definitions

1. noun

A relationship between words that are pronounced or spelled alike, but have different meanings or origins, such as ‘bank’ (financial institution) and ‘bank’ (riverbank).

“The linguist studied the complex paronymy in the language, noting how similar words often had distinct meanings.”

2. noun

The phenomenon of words that are pronounced or spelled the same but have different meanings or functions, such as homophones or homographs.

“The teacher explained the paronymy between ‘to’, ‘too’, and ‘two’ to her students, who were struggling with the differences.”