Which to use
“ear” and “eke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,425
- “ear” frequency rank
- #45,352
- “eke” frequency rank
- 48777
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ear | eke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The organ of hearing, consisting of the pinna or auricle, auditory canal, eardrum, malleus, incus, stapes and cochlea. | An addition. |
Where the eye mixes ear and eke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ear vs eke
A purely visual mix-up. ear (/ˈɪə̯/) and eke (/iːk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ear is recorded at frequency rank #3,425, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪə̯/. eke is at rank #45,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iːk/.
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 48777, this pair ranks #189,863 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ear vs eke
Shared letters: e. Private to "ear": ar. Private to "eke": k.
"ear" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "eke" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ear" and "eke" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "ear" or "eke" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eke" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,863 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ear" and "eke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eke vs Eri". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #189,863 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.