Which to use
“emergence” and “emergencies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,536
- “emergence” frequency rank
- #13,707
- “emergencies” frequency rank
- 24243
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | emergence | emergencies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of rising out of a fluid, or coming forth from envelopment or concealment, or of rising into view; appearance. | plural of emergency |
Where the eye mixes emergence and emergencies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. emergence runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCCV) against emergencies's 11 (VCVCCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses emergence with emergencies
A purely visual mix-up. emergence (/ɪˈmɜː.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/) and emergencies (/ɪˈmɜː.dʒən.siːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
emergence is recorded at frequency rank #10,536, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈmɜː.d͡ʒ(ə)ns/. emergencies is at rank #13,707, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈmɜː.dʒən.siːz/.
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 24243, this pair ranks #403,415 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of emergence vs emergencies
Shared letters: cegmnr. Private to "emergence": -. Private to "emergencies": is.
"emergence" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV · "emergencies" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- emergence ← eemrgence · emegrence · emeregnce · emergance · emergecne · emergencce · emergenec · emergennce
- emergencies ← eemrgencies · emegrencies · emeregncies · emergecnies · emergenccies · emergenceis · emergenciess · emergencise
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "emergence" for "emergencies" ever safe?
Frequency check: "emergence" vs "emergencies" - which ranks higher?
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 "emergence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "emergencies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,415 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "emergence" and "emergencies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "emergence vs emergent". 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 #403,415 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.