I'm asking mostly about verbs like 陥る / 落ち入る though I'd also be interested in
nouns and adjectives.

I'm not really looking for synonyms, more words where the meaning and
pronunciation are the same but the kanji changes. I know there are instances
of this though I don't know what it's called and ideally I'd like some more
examples.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-24T23:01:15.737
18801
2014-09-25T15:24:02.367
7073
question
kanji synonyms homophonic-kanji
What is the term for a word which can be written with one kanji or two kanji but where the meaning is the same?
One convenient way to manage situations like this is to combine following
pieces to convey your intention:

  * 同音【どうおん】 same reading (on- or kun-)
  * 同訓【どうくん】 same kun-reading
  * 異音【いおん】 different reading
  * 同義【どうぎ】 same meaning
  * 異義【いぎ】 different meaning
  * 類義【るいぎ】 similar meaning
  * 同字【どうじ】 same kanji
  * 異字【いじ】 different kanji

For example, there are
[同音異義語](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E7%BE%A9%E8%AA%9E),
[同音異字語](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8C%E9%9F%B3%E7%95%B0%E5%AD%97),
[同字異音異義語](http://www.h-dc.com/hantai/ionigigomain.htm), etc.

You can mix these freely, and at least make yourself understood in blog posts
or Q&A forums like _Y! Chiebukuro_. But professional linguists may have better
specific words or rules which I'm not aware of.

Your 陥る/落ち入る pair is 同音異字 which happens to be 同義, too.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-25T15:24:02.367
18811
2014-09-25T15:24:02.367
5010
18801
answer