acnevsannexWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,830
“acne” frequency rank
#14,883
“annex” frequency rank
26713
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acne annex
Definition A skin condition, usually of the face, that is common in adolescents. It is characterised by red pimples, and is caused by the inflammation of sebaceous glands through bacterial infection. An addition, an extension.

Where the eye mixes acne and annex

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
acne
5 ch
annex

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. acne (/ˈækni/) and annex (/ˈænɛks/) 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 26713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acne is recorded at frequency rank #11,830, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈækni/. annex is at rank #14,883, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈænɛks/.

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 26713, this pair ranks #384,628 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of acne vs annex

Shared letters: aen. Private to "acne": c. Private to "annex": x.

"acne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "annex" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acneaccne · acen · acnne · ance
  • annexanenx · anex · annexx · annxe · nanex

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acne" and "annex" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈækni/ versus /ˈænɛks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "acne" or "annex"?
"acne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,830 in our English list, against #14,883 for "annex". 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