Abstract
The article deals with the phenomenon of linguistic asymmetry, whichimplies an erroneous translation of the language units of the source language due to thephonetic similarity with the units of the translating language. The author addresses theproblem of similarity and apparent identity in the analysis of several typologiesdeveloped by scientists. From the point of view of the content plan, the followingfeatures of interlanguage synonyms can be distinguished: coincidence in some meaningsand discrepancy in others; generic meaning in one language, specific meaning inanother; discrepancies related to the transmission of realities; differences in stylisticcharacteristics; differences in lexical compatibility. From the point of view of the plan ofexpression, the disparity in some synonyms and the equivalence of the volumes ofconcepts are noticeable in others. The last group is words that have different meaningsbut belong to the same semantic field. These functional interferents clearly show thefollowing logical and semantic relationships: causal, based on size, common functioning,based on the manufacturing process, etc.