Muʾtalif wa-mukhtalif covers names whose written forms are identical or similar but whose pronunciations differ. Dots, vowel markings and subtle letter shapes can cause one narrator to be mistaken for another. Mutashābih concerns additional resemblance between names and patronymics or other identifiers.
In mutashābih maqlūb, reversal of a name and its patronymic creates deceptively similar identities:
“al-Aswad ibn Yazīd” — al-Aswad son of Yazīd.
“Yazīd ibn al-Aswad” — Yazīd son of al-Aswad.
The method: Never decide identity from visual resemblance alone. Check teachers, pupils, geography, generation, kunya and other transmissions. Copying error, reversal and genuinely identical names are different mechanisms needing different explanations.