Paronyms are almost homonyms: they sound or spell almost the same but have different meanings. Where the homonyms are similar in reading but do not have the same meaning at all (like “green” and “glass”). While most of the time the paronyms don’t mean the same thing at all (like “phrase” and “phase”), sometimes some have a fairly close definition and can be used in the same context. Hard, hard to find!
Promiscuity and proximity, imprint and borrowing, attention and intention… It is sometimes difficult not to confuse them. To differentiate two paronyms, it is necessary to observe the radical (the invariable part of the word), the prefix (particle placed at the beginning of the word) and the suffix (particle placed at the end of the word). They can completely change the meaning of a word. This is a good way to differentiate, for example, “take” and “bring” which share the same stem but not the same prefix. “To take” means “to take something with oneself” and “to bring” means to take someone to a place.
Another way to not get confused between two paronyms: learn them. This is the case, for example, of “venomous” and “venomous” whose meaning is based on the fact that they qualify a plant or an animal. In order to test your knowledge, discover in the slideshow below several common and easily confused paronyms. Can you make it clear?
