eft vs eke, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“eft” and “eke” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#49,891
“eft” frequency rank: #45,352
“eke” frequency rank: 95243
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	eft	eke
Definition	A newt, especially a smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris, syn. Triturus punctatus), of Europe.	An addition.

Where the eye mixes eft and eke

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. eft (VCC) and eke (VCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch

eft

3 ch

eke

Visual trap between eft and eke

A purely visual mix-up. eft (/ɛft/) 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 95243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eft is recorded at frequency rank #49,891, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɛft/. 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 95243, this pair ranks #1,040 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of eft vs eke

Shared letters: e. Private to "eft": ft. Private to "eke": k.

"eft" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "eke" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eft" for "eke" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ɛft/ versus /iːk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "eft" or "eke"?

"eke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,352 in our English list, against #49,891 for "eft". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "eft" 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 #1,040 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"eft" and "eke" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eft vs Eri". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,040 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.