eastvsexaltWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: east is a noun, exalt is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“east” is a noun and “exalt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#709
“east” frequency rank
#47,049
“exalt” frequency rank
47758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature east exalt
Definition The direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°. To honor; to hold in high esteem; to praise or worship.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set east and exalt apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
east
5 ch
exalt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: east is /iːst/ while exalt is /ɪɡˈzɒlt/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

east is recorded at frequency rank #709, classified as anoun, pronounced /iːst/. exalt is at rank #47,049, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪɡˈzɒlt/.

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 47758, this pair ranks #199,483 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of east vs exalt

Shared letters: aet. Private to "east": s. Private to "exalt": lx.

"east" · 4 letters · shape VVCC  ·  "exalt" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eastaest · easst · eastt · esat
  • exalteaxlt · exallt · exaltt · exatl · exlat · exxalt · xealt

Frequency comparison

east#709
exalt#47,049

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "east" and "exalt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "east" is a noun and "exalt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "east" or "exalt"?
"east" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #709 in our English list, against #47,049 for "exalt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering east vs exalt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “east”; for a verb, it's “exalt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “east” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list