Reading “al-Aswad ibn Yazīd” as “Yazīd ibn al-Aswad” involves reversing whole name components. Altering a letter through misplaced dots is a different kind of graphic or vocalic misreading. Both can misidentify a transmitter, but the immediate causes are not the same.
Research case: one manuscript has “al-Aswad ibn Yazīd” and another “Yazīd ibn al-Aswad.” The investigator must ask whether two genuine narrators are involved or whether a copyist transposed the elements. Chronology and transmission links, not the word order in isolation, decide.
This distinction keeps manuscript correction separate from the independent existence of similarly named individuals.