spouse vs spouse equivalent

spouse and spouse equivalent both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
spouse	Yes	No	No	No
spouse equivalent	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, spouse equivalent is a hypernym of spouse; that is, spouse equivalent is a word with a broader meaning than spouse:

spouse: a person's partner in marriage
spouse equivalent: a person (not necessarily a spouse) with whom you cohabit and share a long-term sexual relationship

Other hypernyms of spouse include domestic partner, significant other, spousal equivalent, relation, relative.

spouse (noun)	spouse equivalent (noun)
a person's partner in marriage	a person (not necessarily a spouse) with whom you cohabit and share a long-term sexual relationship