The result of conflating concepts may give rise to
fallacies and
ambiguity, including the
fallacy of four terms in a categorical
syllogism. For example, the word "bat" has at least two distinct meanings: a
flying animal, and a piece of sporting equipment (such as a
baseball bat or
cricket bat). If these meanings are not distinguished, the result may be the following categorical
syllogism, which may be seen as a joke (
pun): :#All bats are animals. :#Some wooden objects are bats. :#Therefore, some wooden objects are animals. Using words with different meanings can help clarify, or can cause real confusion. English words with multiple (verb) meanings can be illustrated by instances in which a motion is merged with or a causation with manner, e.g.
the bride floated towards her future. In this example, the bride may be married on a boat, airplane, or hot-air balloon, etc. She could be walking the aisle towards matrimony. The verb "float" has multiple meanings, and both verb meanings in the example may be proper uses of a bride "floating" toward a future. The "manner" of the scene, described by further context, would explain the true meaning of the sentence. In an alternate illustrative example,
respect is used both in the sense of recognizing a right and having high regard for someone or something. We can ''respect someone's right
to an opinion without holding this idea in high regard''. But conflation of these two different concepts leads to the notion that all ideological ideas should be treated with respect, rather than just the right to hold these ideas. Conflation in logical terms is very similar to
equivocation. ==Taxonomic conflation==