eachvseatsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: each is a determiner, eats is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“each” is a determiner and “eats” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#191
“each” frequency rank
#7,681
“eats” frequency rank
7872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature each eats
Definition All; every; qualifying a singular noun, indicating all examples of the thing so named seen as individual or separate items (compare every). third-person singular simple present indicative of eat

Where the eye mixes each and eats

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
each
4 ch
eats

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: each is /iːt͡ʃ/ while eats is /iːts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

each is recorded at frequency rank #191, classified as adet, pronounced /iːt͡ʃ/. eats is at rank #7,681, tagged as averb, pronounced /iːts/.

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 7872, this pair ranks #505,193 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of each vs eats

Shared letters: ae. Private to "each": ch. Private to "eats": st.

"each" · 4 letters · shape VVCC  ·  "eats" · 4 letters · shape VVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eachaech · eacch · eachh · eahc · ecah
  • eatsaets · eatss · eatts · etas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "each" and "eats" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "each" is a determiner and "eats" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "each" or "eats"?
"each" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #191 in our English list, against #7,681 for "eats". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list