malapropism
C1CEFR level
70/100Rarity: rare
TechnicalRegister
The mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often to comic effect.
Calling someone 'the pineapple of politeness' is a classic malapropism for 'pinnacle'.
Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.
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