Some words have the same etymology, root, but mean different things, such as mysterious and mystical. What are some other pairs (or more) that fall into this category, and what exactly is this category called?
Learn English – Term for same root word but words with different meaning
doubletsetymologyterminology
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If you start with wikipedia
An auto-antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), or contranym (originally spelled contronym), is a word with a homograph (a word of the same spelling) that is also an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning). Variant names include antagonym, Janus word (after the Roman god), enantiodrome, and self-antonym. It is a word with multiple meanings, one of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other meanings.
it already puts you on the right path and mentions one of the word and one of the ways that can make such words
Some pairs of contronyms are true homographs, i.e., distinct words with different etymology which happen to have the same form. For instance cleave "separate" is from Old English clēofen, while cleave "adhere" is from Old English cleofian, which was pronounced differently. This is related to false friends, but false friends do not necessarily contradict.
In other words, for example literally, the two meanings developed from the overuse of the word as hyperbole.
The word you could be looking for is variant
Definition:
1 obsolete : variable
2 : manifesting variety, deviation, or disagreement
3 : varying usually slightly from the standard form
(examples) variant readings; variant spellings
Also, from google search:
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Best Answer
There are actually lots of these. They are called doublets.
My favorite example, which is not mentioned on that Wikipedia page, is the following:
Genre, gender, generic, and genus all come from the Latin genus meaning "kind/class" (although the word actually goes all the way back to Proto-Indo-European *gen-/*gon-/*gn- meaning "produce, beget, be born").