Insights
20 pairs of medical terms that are easy to get wrong
One misheard word can change the meaning of a report. These are pairs that look or sound alike and are easily confused, whether by a person or by speech recognition.
Why one word matters
Medico-legal reports are read closely and sometimes relied on in court. A single wrong term can change a diagnosis, a prognosis or the apparent meaning of an opinion. Similar-sounding terms are easy to confuse when audio is unclear, the speaker has a strong accent or a recording has background noise.
Twenty pairs to watch
Hypertension or Hypertensive crisis
High blood pressure compared with a dangerously high reading needing urgent care.
Metastasis or Metastable
The spread of cancer compared with a non-medical word meaning unstable.
Myocardial infarction or Myocardial infraction
A heart attack compared with a wrong word that sounds almost identical.
Neurology or Nephrology
The nervous system compared with the kidneys.
Sepsis or Septicaemia
A life-threatening reaction to infection compared with infection of the bloodstream.
Hypoglycaemia or Hyperglycaemia
Low blood sugar compared with high blood sugar.
Anxiety or Angina
A mental health condition compared with chest pain from reduced blood flow to the heart.
Aneurysm or Arrhythmia
A bulge in a blood vessel wall compared with an abnormal heart rhythm.
Dysphagia or Dysphasia
Difficulty swallowing compared with difficulty with language.
Cervical or Cerebral
Relating to the neck or the cervix compared with relating to the brain.
Ejection fraction or Injection fraction
A measure of how much blood the heart pumps compared with a non-medical phrase.
Polyp or Pulp
An abnormal growth on a lining compared with soft tissue inside a tooth.
Prophylaxis or Paralysis
Preventive treatment compared with loss of movement.
Tinnitus or Tendinitis
Ringing in the ears compared with inflammation of a tendon.
Trauma or Thrombosis
Physical injury compared with a blood clot in a vessel.
Bowel or Bile
The intestine compared with a digestive fluid made by the liver.
Carcinoma or Sarcoma
Cancer of the lining tissues compared with cancer of connective tissue.
Abduction or Adduction
Movement away from the midline compared with movement towards it.
Hyperplasia or Hypertrophy
An increase in the number of cells compared with an increase in their size.
Acute or Chronic
Sudden or short-term compared with long-lasting.
How these errors are caught
Context is the best safeguard. A transcriber who knows the specialty will notice when a word does not fit the sentence and will flag a passage that is unclear for you to confirm instead of guessing. Where a report has been drafted by an AI tool, checking it against the original audio is the most reliable way to find the same kind of slip.
Related services
- AI report validation: your report checked against the original audio
- AI report review: read, formatted and proofread
- Medico-legal transcription: your dictation typed by UK-based transcribers
See how it works with 10 minutes free
Send a short dictation or an AI-drafted report and judge the result for yourself.