paronomasia (n.)

in rhetoric, "the use of words similar in sound but different in sense; use of the same word in different senses;" more or less, "punning," 1570s, from Latin, from Greek paronomasia "play upon words which sound similarly," from paronomazein "to alter slightly, to call with slight change of name," literally "to name beside," from par- (see para- (1)) + onomasia "naming," from onoma "name" (from PIE root *no-men- "name"). Related: Paranomastic; paranomastical.