Can the long version of a keyword phrase count for the short version's usage as well as the long?

There are many similar phrases in our keyword list that we'd like to use within the content of a page. Can the long version of a phrase count for the short version's usage as well as the long version's? (Examples: Machine vision is within machine vision applications, machine vision companies, etc.) Or if we use the phrase visual inspection equipment does this satisfy the need to use the keyword phrase visual inspection? How does this work?