NO !

A potentiometer is specifically referring to a three terminal device, which is a variable resistor. In most cases the leftermost terminal is grounded, and the input usually goes to the right terminal. The output is taken off the wiper (center terminal). In some low power applications they apply the input to the wiper because of the impedances involved (such as an electric guitar) , but if you do it that way with a buffered signal you need resistance to make sure you don't burn up the bottom end (near the left terminal).

A rheostat by definition is only a variable resistor, it only uses two terminals. It will have three terminals usually but the crux of the matter is that only two are used in the circuit in question. It can also go either way, with resistance increasing or decreasing with clockwise rotation. They are rarely used in apps with active devices.

There are diferent curves for each, linear, log or audio, and each has it's specific application(s) in a given circuit, depending on what you need. In old planetariuums (like 1960s) the lights were frequently fed by rheostats with a logrythmic taper. In your audio equipment, they are almost always potentiometers, although there are a few exceptions inside like sometimes the bias control. What the user sees are pots. Rarely maybe a variable loudness contour control (on really expensive stuff) might be a rheostat.

But in that application it is the same part, but only with two terminals used. Another application where a rheostat was used is in the dashlights of vehicles for dimming. They have been replaced of course by switched mode controllers in the newer cars because of efficiency. Those are most likely controled by a pot rather than a theostat, but that's because they are feeding a transistor circuit.

J