Learn English – A word for something familiar, but in reality not

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Specious would be a great analogy to the word I'm looking for. It is something that it is true on the surface but really is not, i.e. superficially familiar, but not if we look closely.

Example sentence:

Mushrooms resemble plants, they are _____ to plants, they look like plants and consumed as vegetables. However, if look deeper they are completely different living organisms.

The word would represent a thing to be "familiar", "relatable", "recognizable". (Not necessarily physically familiar). Yet, it would also convey the thing to be "alien", "unrelatable", "different".

Best Answer

I would go with something like deceptively similar. Another option might be simulacrum.