Is there a word to refer to words that appear as though they have been misspelled?
Take for instance the following, relatively uncommon terms:
- Froward [Forward]
- Obverse [Observe]
- Perquisite [Requisite/prerequisite]
- Effront [Affront]
- Ingenuous [Ingenious]
- Infarction [Infraction]
Is there a term which collectively refers to words that look misspelled but are in fact valid words which are not just alternative forms of the 'more common' words?
Clearly, the words appear normal to one who is accustomed to them. I'd hazard that only 'froward' and 'infarction' are words that, to some native English speakers who aren't well read, might appear as misspelled words. {Others, like apposite [opposite] are far more common, but appear to be incorrectly spelled to those only presently learning English.}
Oxford provides the following sense of confusable:
NOUN
A word or phrase that is easily confused with another in meaning or usage, such as mitigate, which is often confused with militate.
It also provides a list of confusables at this webpage.
I would argue that it's not possible to include in the definition that it "appears to be a misspelling," because if you actually know both words that sense disappears.
Any single word that isn't known may appear to be misspelled on first sight—whether it's compared to another word or not.
For example, I know the word obverse and it does not appear to misspelled at all—because I know it isn't. Would that mean that, given some word for words that appear to be misspelled, that word would no longer qualify for anybody who knows they are correct?
So, the only objective description of these word pairs is that one looks similar to the other. (It may be true that if you don't know one of the pairs it also does appear to be a misspelling of the other.)
It seems to me to be a "written spoonerism".
Or a "spoonerism spelling".
I've thought about what the OP is asking.
The OP is basically talking about:
Little-used words which happen to look like mis-spellings of common words.
The only phrase I can think of which encapsulates that idea is,
"A little-used word which happen to look like a mis-spelling of a common word."
Consider, "confusables" are:
A pair of words, both common, which have similar meanings, and which are easy to "mix up". Such as the pair principle/principal.
In contrast - I believe what the OP is asking - a "LUWWHTLLAMSOACW" is
A (single) obscure word, which, surprisingly, looks exactly like a simple typo for an everyday word. (No connection between the two.) Example Froward.
An interesting third similar category is things like "tenderhooks" - "mistaken" words caused by people mishearing the actual word (tenterhooks in the example).