1. the relationship between words that are similar in form or sound but differ in meaning; the quality of being paronymous.
Usage: linguistics term; often used in language learning and translation studies

Examples

• The paronymy between 'affect' and 'effect' causes confusion for many English learners.
• Translators must be aware of paronymy to avoid false cognates between languages.
• The paronymy of 'principal' and 'principle' is a common source of spelling errors.
• Understanding paronymy helps students distinguish between similar-sounding words with different meanings.
• False friends in language learning often involve paronymy between the native language and the target language.