Which to use
“earn” is a verb and “erg” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,102
- “earn” frequency rank
- #48,222
- “erg” frequency rank
- 51324
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | earn | erg |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work. | A unit of work or energy, being the amount of work done by a force of one dyne applied through a distance of one centimeter. Equal to 10⁻⁷ joules. |
Where the eye mixes earn and erg
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: earn is /ɜːn/ while erg is /ɜːɡ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
earn is recorded at frequency rank #3,102, classified as averb, pronounced /ɜːn/. erg is at rank #48,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɜːɡ/.
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 51324, this pair ranks #166,451 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of earn vs erg
Shared letters: er. Private to "earn": an. Private to "erg": g.
"earn" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "erg" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- earn ← aern · eanr · earnn · earrn · eran