Which to use
“ease” and “eke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,015
- “ease” frequency rank
- #45,352
- “eke” frequency rank
- 49367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ease | eke |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lack of difficulty; the ability to do something easily. | An addition. |
Where the eye mixes ease and eke
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ease runs 4 letters (VVCV) against eke's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ease and eke
A purely visual mix-up. ease (/iːz/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ease is recorded at frequency rank #4,015, classified as anoun, pronounced /iːz/. 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 49367, this pair ranks #184,310 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ease vs eke
Shared letters: e. Private to "ease": as. Private to "eke": k.
"ease" · 4 letters · shape VVCV · "eke" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ease ← aese · eaes · easse · esae
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ease" and "eke" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "ease" or "eke" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ease" 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 #184,310 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ease" and "eke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eke vs Eri". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #184,310 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.