crisscross, dillydally, riffraff, etc
Solution 1:
Frozen reduplicative phrases like these, especially ones made of nonsense or phonosemantic roots like riffraff or hocus-pocus, are simply called Freezes in the literature, following Cooper and Ross 1975*, the first study to investigate them thoroughly.
Of course, freezes like hocus-pocus don't vary the vowels but the consonants. There is to my knowledge no fancy name for freezes that vary only their vowels.
Cooper and Ross* note that there are a number of reasons, some phonological and some semantic, that explain why one does not find reverse freezes like
*raffriff, *pocus-hocus, *crosscriss, *dallydilly
*William E. Cooper and John Robert Ross, 1975. "World Order" in Grossman, San, & Vance, eds. Papers from the Parasession on Functionalism, Chicago Linguistic Society.
Solution 2:
It’s called reduplication. You find it in such words as zigzag and mishmash. It’s especially common in hyphenated words like chit-chat and teeter-totter. Here is a selection of such from the OED:
bibble-babble drip-drop moon-man shiffle-shuffle tisty-tosty
bing-bang fible-fable muster-master shilly-shally tit-tat
bingle-bangle fiddle-faddle niddle-noddle shim-sham titter-totter
chiff-chaff filly-folly niddy-noddy sing-song tittle-tattle
chip-chop fingle-fangle nid-nod skimble-skamble titty-totty
chit-chat fix-fax niff-naff slipper-slopper tric-trac
chitter-chatter flim-flam niggers-noggers slip-slap trim-tram
chuffe-chaffe flip-flap nig-nog slip-slop tringum-trangum
click-clack flip-flop ning-nong smick-smack trinkum-trankum
clink-clank flipperty-flopperty peat-pot snick-snack trittle-trattle
clinkum-clankum fribble-frabble pid-pad snipper-snapper trit-trot
clip-clop gibble-gabble ping-pong snip-snap twiddle-twaddle
clipper-clapper giff-gaff pip-pop spitter-spatter twingle-twangle
clish-clash head-hid pish-pash splish-splash whimsy-whamsy
clitter-clatter higgle-haggle pit-pat splishy-splashy whim-wham
clush-clash hip-hop pitter-patter squish-squash whitter-whatter
coon-can hirrie-harrie plip-plop swing-swang whittie-whattie
crick-crack jibber-jabber pot-peat swish-swash wibble-wobble
crickle-crackle jiggy-joggy prittle-prattle switter-swatter wibbly-wobbly
crinkle-crankle jim-jam ribble-rabble teenty-taunty widdle-waddle
crinkly-crankly jingle-jangle rickety-rackety teeny-tiny wiggle-waggle
crinkum-crankum kim-kam ric-rac tick-tack wiggly-waggly
criss-cross knick-knack riff-raff tick-tock wig-wag
dibble-dabble knit-knot rip-rap ticky-tacky wimble-wamble
diddle-daddle Lib-Lab rittle-rattle tig-tag wimbly-wambly
dilly-dally ling-long rope-ripe tingle-tangle wish-wash
dimber-damber loch-leech scribble-scrabble ting-tang wishy-washy
dindle-dandle micro-macro scrip-scrap tinkle-tankle wringle-wrangle
ding-dong mingle-mangle scritch-scratch tipsy-topsy
dingle-dangle mish-mash sheet-shot tip-tap
dingle-dongle mixty-maxty shick-shack tip-top
Those all match the (ir)regular expression
^
(\w+) ([aeiouy]+) (\w+)
-
\1 (?! \2 ) [aeiouy]+ \3
$
. . . which is how I found them.
EDIT
Here’s the same list after running John’s pipeline. I’ve right-justified them so it lines up more interestingly.
Lib-Lab jingle-jangle clish-clash slip-slap pit-pat
ric-rac mingle-mangle clush-clash snip-snap tit-tat
tric-trac wringle-wrangle splish-splash rip-rap sheet-shot
pid-pad tingle-tangle mish-mash scrip-scrap knit-knot
head-hid twingle-twangle pish-pash tip-tap peat-pot
nid-nod dingle-dongle squish-squash hip-hop trit-trot
chuffe-chaffe crickle-crackle wish-wash chip-chop fix-fax
hirrie-harrie crinkle-crankle swish-swash clip-clop niddy-noddy
whittie-whattie tinkle-tankle shick-shack flip-flop jiggy-joggy
fible-fable rittle-rattle click-clack plip-plop splishy-splashy
bibble-babble prittle-prattle smick-smack slip-slop wishy-washy
dibble-dabble trittle-trattle knick-knack pip-pop ticky-tacky
gibble-gabble tittle-tattle snick-snack drip-drop wibbly-wobbly
ribble-rabble rope-ripe crick-crack tip-top wimbly-wambly
scribble-scrabble giff-gaff tick-tack jibber-jabber wiggly-waggly
fribble-frabble chiff-chaff tick-tock dimber-damber crinkly-crankly
wibble-wobble niff-naff clink-clank clipper-clapper dilly-dally
skimble-skamble riff-raff shim-sham snipper-snapper shilly-shally
wimble-wamble tig-tag whim-wham slipper-slopper filly-folly
diddle-daddle wig-wag jim-jam muster-master teeny-tiny
fiddle-faddle bing-bang kim-kam chitter-chatter whimsy-whamsy
widdle-waddle ting-tang flim-flam whitter-whatter tipsy-topsy
twiddle-twaddle swing-swang trim-tram clitter-clatter rickety-rackety
niddle-noddle ding-dong tringum-trangum pitter-patter teenty-taunty
dindle-dandle ling-long clinkum-clankum spitter-spatter flipperty-flopperty
shiffle-shuffle ning-nong crinkum-crankum switter-swatter tisty-tosty
higgle-haggle ping-pong trinkum-trankum titter-totter titty-totty
wiggle-waggle sing-song coon-can niggers-noggers mixty-maxty
bingle-bangle nig-nog moon-man criss-cross
dingle-dangle loch-leech micro-macro pot-peat
fingle-fangle scritch-scratch flip-flap chit-chat
And here are some that differ in the initial consonant cluster:
sea-flea splash-dash pop-shop hurdy-gurdy
sea-pea rush-bush top-crop rowdy-dowdy
fa-la sci-fi pop-top crowdy-mowdy
tirra-lirra hi-fi fender-bender hokey-cokey
hob-job Wi-Fi gender-bender hokey-pokey
hob-nob demi-semi hugger-mugger lovey-dovey
club-drub tutti-frutti killer-diller ruffy-tuffy
dead-head jack-back pooper-scooper piggy-wiggy
seed-bed back-pack super-duper hootchy-kootchy
wed-bed pack-track water-skater ricky-ticky
zed-bed pack-sack helter-skelter mifky-pifky
seed-weed back-tack whister-clister hanky-panky
shagged-ragged nick-stick pitter-litter minky-winky
skid-lid rick-stick butter-cutter hooky-crooky
mind-blind rock-cock fair-hair sally-fly
hoard-ward cock-block hurr-burr dry-fly
soogee-moogee stock-lock dos-à-dos Piggly-Wiggly
tee-hee smock-frock hocus-pocus higly-pigly
hokee-pokee cook-book holus-bolus jelly-belly
hodge-podge fal-lal rat-bat willy-nilly
boogie-woogie pall-mall float-boat lilly-pilly
walkie-talkie pell-mell rat-tat nilly-willy
nookie-bookie will-gill night-light trolly-lolly
curlie-wurlie trill-rill night-sight roly-poly
peepie-creepie noll-kholl light-tight hurly-burly
tulyie-mulyie tol-lol tit-bit curly-wurly
hubble-bubble wham-bam hot-shot miminy-piminy
scamble-shamble william-nilliam pot-shot niminy-piminy
ramble-scramble ram-jam root-knot toy-boy
nimble-pimble cram-jam hot-pot shoy-hoy
humble-jumble ram-stam nut-cut nimpy-pimpy
mumble-jumble hirdum-dirdum tohu-bohu rumpy-pumpy
rumble-jumble heckum-peckum yaw-haw happy-clappy
rumble-tumble harum-scarum tow-row hickery-pickery
double-trouble rum-strum kow-tow shimmery-whimmery
toodle-loodle rum-tum bow-wow quavery-mavery
raggle-taggle pan-man Tex-Mex dry-fry
ringle-jingle fan-tan lay-day rory-tory
keckle-meckle ran-tan play-day cherry-merry
hustle-bustle fen-phen May-day hurry-burry
razzle-dazzle sin-bin pay-day hurry-scurry
prime-time lin-pin nay-say teensy-weensy
ruff-scuff non-con play-way hotsy-totsy
huff-duff Hobson-Jobson rubby-dubby slawsy-gawsy
shag-bag bon-ton namby-pamby highty-tighty
rag-bag loco-foco hiddy-giddy hoity-toity
shag-rag Neo-Geo hoddy-doddy ranty-tanty
tag-rag yoo-hoo coddy-moddy humpty-dumpty
rag-tag to-fro hoddy-noddy flibberty-gibberty
gang-bang snap-cap fuddy-duddy twisty-wisty
mincing-pincing rap-tap higgledy-piggledy nitty-gritty
wing-ding drip-tip handy-dandy tuzzy-muzzy
fog-dog stump-jump randy-dandy fuzzy-wuzzy
catch-match cop-shop lardy-dardy
hotch-potch slop-shop hirdy-girdy
Solution 3:
Some words of this kind are formed by reduplication:-
- Linguistics a. To double (the initial syllable or all of a root word) to produce an inflectional or derivational form. b. To form (a new word) by doubling all or part of a word.
although crisscross isn't formed this way:-
[Alteration of Middle English Cristcrosse, mark of a cross, short for Cristcross (me speed), may Christ's cross (give me success).]
it would appear that riff-raff:-
[Middle English riffe raffe, from rif and raf, one and all, from Anglo-Norman rif et raf, rifle et rafle : Old French rifler, to rifle; see rifle2 + Old French raffler, to carry off (from raffle, act of seizing; see raffle).]
and hoo-haa:-
1930–35; probably < Yiddish hu-ha to-do, uproar, exclamation of surprise; compare Polish hu-ha exclamation of joy
are, if you track them back to the original languages.
Solution 4:
Words in which only one sound is different are called minimal pairs.