«بَلْ لَوْ جَاءَتْ بِالْمَعْنَى لَكَفَى»
Even agreement in meaning, rather than exact wording, can suffice for mutaba‘ah.
The benefit of a follow-up is not limited to word-for-word repetition. If a second chain communicates the same instruction—such as completing the count to thirty—through other reliable words, it can corroborate the meaning.
That does not erase textual distinctions. Establishing the very wording of a particular report differs from establishing its shared meaning. A broadly similar report cannot, merely by resemblance, prove the exact contested addition when that addition requires specific textual support.