Which to use
“ember” and “ether” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,019
- “ember” frequency rank
- #17,131
- “ether” frequency rank
- 47150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ember | ether |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A piece of coal or wood glowing by heat; a hot coal. | The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities. |
Where the eye mixes ember and ether
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ember and ether
A purely visual mix-up. ember (/ˈɛm.bə/) and ether (/ˈiː.θə/) 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 47150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ember is recorded at frequency rank #30,019, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛm.bə/. ether is at rank #17,131, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈiː.θə/.
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 47150, this pair ranks #205,132 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ember vs ether
Shared letters: er. Private to "ember": bm. Private to "ether": ht.
"ember" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "ether" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ember" for "ether" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ember" vs "ether" - which ranks higher?
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 "ember" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ether" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,132 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ember" and "ether" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eben vs ember". 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 #205,132 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.