# ell vs em

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### ell
*noun · IPA /ˈɛl/ · frequency rank #29,255*
A measure of length. An English ell was 1¼ yards (45 inches or 114 cm), a Scottish ell was about 37 inches (94 cm), a Flemish ell was ¾ yard (27 inches or 69 cm), while certain European ells were less than 50 cm.

### em
*noun · IPA /ˈɛm/ · frequency rank #2,623*
The name of the Latin script letter M/m.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ell-vs-em