ekevsemoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,352
“eke” frequency rank
#21,199
“emo” frequency rank
66551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eke emo
Definition An addition. Any form of guitar-driven alternative rock that is particularly or notably emotional; a broadly encompassing genre of rock music characterized by expressive, often confessional lyrics.

Where the eye mixes eke and emo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
eke
3 ch
emo

Why the eye confuses eke with emo

A purely visual mix-up. eke (/iːk/) and emo (/ˈiː.moʊ/) 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 66551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eke is recorded at frequency rank #45,352, classified as anoun, pronounced /iːk/. emo is at rank #21,199, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈiː.moʊ/.

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 66551, this pair ranks #67,445 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of eke vs emo

Shared letters: e. Private to "eke": k. Private to "emo": mo.

"eke" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "emo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eke" and "emo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/iːk/ versus /ˈiː.moʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "eke" or "emo" show up more?
"emo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,199 in our English list, against #45,352 for "eke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eke" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "emo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,445 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eke" and "emo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eke vs Eri". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #67,445 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list