I don‘t think there is much potential for confusion. The fact that you can easily spot wrong usage of the words even if they‘re used explicitely against definition proves that they can be distinguished based on context alone. Although I‘d be happy to see a scenario where confusion arises.

You are right though that established definitions and rules might influence the Development. Back when people had no school and no one to tell them how language was supposed to work they probably were way more accepting of other ways to use language. On the other hand, in my mother language I saw wrong grammar being established as the Norm within my lifetime (which is not much) and the teaching changing accordingly. So I‘m not convinced that established rules really have any control.