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"I'll call round and see you on my way home."

Can we replace 'round' with 'around'?

The question is: If I change to 'call around', does it still mean 'visit for a moment'?

In English, 'around' and 'round' go exchangeably together, but dictionaries say 'call around' means 'make several phone calls'.

The earth goes round / around the sun.
They live round / around the corner.
We travelled round / around India.
She turned round / around when I came in.

My dictionary says these are both acceptable in BrE. But "around" is possible only in AmE. The dictionary says "around" is more formal.

CALL AROUND https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/call-around Definition of 'call around' call around REGIONAL NOTE:
in BRIT, usually use ring round PHRASAL VERB If you call around, you phone several people, usually when you are trying to organize something or to find some information. [mainly US] Call around to find the best bargains.

https://onlineteachersuk.com/phrasal-verbs-call/ Call around 1. visit 2. make phone callls

CALL ROUND https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/call_round call round : To pay a short visit. I'll call round later to pick up my prescription.

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/call-round I called round yesterday, but you weren’t in.

If it's not interchangeable, it's totally different and English learners must pay attention to the usage.

PS. I feel In BrE, "call around" has two meanings 1. visit 2. make phone calls and in AmE "call around" is making phone calls and both in BrE and AmE "call round" is visit.

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    What gave you the idea that “around” and “round” are interchangeable? Maybe you’ve confused it with ‘round, which is a contraction of around that is sometimes used in informal speech.
    – ColleenV
    Apr 9, 2021 at 12:18
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    @ColleenV I was looking this up only yesterday in connection with another question. See the Collins definition. Merriam-Webster gives one of its definitions of round as 'same as AROUND'. It is never written with an apostrophe in British English.
    – Kate Bunting
    Apr 9, 2021 at 12:31
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    Brandon - One of the Collins definitions of round is If you go round to someone's house, you visit them. Call can be used instead of go. Call around is not idiomatic with this meaning.
    – Kate Bunting
    Apr 9, 2021 at 12:37
  • @KateBunting Thanks! That's the sort of information I was trying to elicit from the author. It belongs in the question.
    – ColleenV
    Apr 9, 2021 at 12:40
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    @RonaldSole: I think maybe your NGram results are being distorted by "false positives" along the lines I'll call around 5 o'clock = [I will phone you] ...at about 5 o'clock. Personally I think to call round works better than to call around for to stop by, visit briefly, and there seem to be far more hits in Google Books for call round tonight than for the same sequence with around.
    – FumbleFingers
    Apr 9, 2021 at 16:01

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As a speaker of American English I would not hear those sentences as identical.

"I'll call round and see you on my way home."

suggests to me that I will stop by your house on my way home (perhaps from school, or after running some errands).

"I'll call around and see you on my way home."

suggests that I will be visiting people all afternoon (calling around) and will make your house my last stop on my way home.

I'm not claiming any dictionary authority for this. It's just how the sentences sound to me.
In context they could reasonably mean the same thing.

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Q. “I'll call round and see you on my way home.” Can we replace 'round' with 'around'?

a. Yes. In this particular case the two words "around" and "round" are interchangeable.

Note Round & Around both have several definitions and only in some instances are the two interchangeable.

The Definition of 'call around' as relating to a telephone call is not relevant to your title question, because you have already defined that round and around are being used in the context of visiting someone on your way home. However there maybe some debate on whether or not the use of "round" is standard UK English Although in my region it is commonly used.

Ref Cambridge English Dictionary Grammar

Around or round? Around and round are prepositions or adverbs. We use around and round when we refer to movements in circles or from one place to another. Around and round can both be used. Around is more common in American English. Round is a little more common in speaking: …

round preposition, adverb (DIRECTION); in a particular direction:

You must come round (to my house) sometime soon.

UK not standard We're going round (= to) the pub for a quick drink.

around; preposition, adverb (UK also round) (IN THIS DIRECTION)

All ref C.E.D.

Note regarding your P.S. I believe this should be a separate question. This reference has a potential 4 answers needing to be explained for each language. Are you referring to the Noun or the verb for call relating to visit and the same relating to telephone? or are you referring to both the verb and the noun?

PS. I feel In BrE, "call around" has two meanings 1. visit 2. make phone calls and in AmE "call around" is making phone calls and both in BrE and AmE "call round" is visit.

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