A fallacy is a statement or argument that leads one to a false conclusion because of a misconception of the meaning of the words used or a flaw in the reasoning involved.
While there is no general agreement on the various types of fallacies, one useful outline of types is as follows:
[Fallacies in diction](a) Equivocation, one word mistaken for another; (b) Amphibology, double meaning sentence; (c) Composition, attributing to the whole what is true only for the part; (d) Division, attributing to the part what is true only for the whole; (e) Metaphor, taking a figure of speech literally or stretching it unduly; (f) Accent, different stress, tone, or gesture giving a different meaning to a word.
[Fallacies extra diction](a) Accident, presenting as true in the definite particular what is only generally true; (b) False absolute, assuming as always true what is true only in its proper field of circumstance; (c) Pretended cause, a prior event is cited as cause of a subsequent one; (d) Evading the issue, of which there are many types; (e) Begging the question, more than evading the issue but actually negation or contradiction of the issue; and The complex question, a "loaded" query that cannot be answered by a simple yes or no, i.e. "Have you stopped taking graft?".