accentvsaccountWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“accent” and “account” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,655
“accent” frequency rank
#616
“account” frequency rank
6271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature accent account
Definition A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it. A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review.

Where the eye mixes accent and account

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
accent
7 ch
account

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. accent (/ˈak.sənt/) and account (/əˈkaʊnt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

accent is recorded at frequency rank #5,655, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈak.sənt/. account is at rank #616, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈkaʊnt/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 6271, this pair ranks #512,089 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of accent vs account

Shared letters: acnt. Private to "accent": e. Private to "account": ou.

"accent" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "account" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • accentaccennt · accentt · accetn · accnet · acecnt · acent · cacent
  • accountacconut · accounnt · accountt · accoutn · accuont · acocunt · acount · cacount

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "accent" and "account" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈak.sənt/ versus /əˈkaʊnt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "accent" or "account"?
"account" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #616 in our English list, against #5,655 for "accent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list