In my business, when I go to work I have a flying partner. When I go to training I have a sim partner. Some of my flying/sim partners share ownership in an airplane so may talk about their airplane partner(s). Most have life partners who are usually, but not always, of the opposite sex. Most, but not all, of those life partners are spouses. I frequently fly with those who have a side businesses and may have business partners. With long hours spent together in the airplane, discussions often go in directions which may include references to all of those different kinds of partners.
If my flying partner mentions his "partner" in conversation it can mean very different things based on to which kind of partner he is referring. Using "Partner" is fine, as long as the distinction doesn't matter to the conversation. When it does, something else is needed to clarify. The clarification can be a modifier, i.e. "sim partner", or the context in which it is used.
Replacing more specific terms with a more generic term does not improve the effectiveness of the communication.