Which to use
“emphasis” is a noun and “emphasise” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,216
- “emphasis” frequency rank
- #26,410
- “emphasise” frequency rank
- 31626
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | emphasis | emphasise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important. | British standard spelling of emphasize. |
Letter map: emphasis vs emphasise
Shared letters muted; letters that set emphasis and emphasise apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Part-of-speech tell for emphasis / emphasise
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: emphasis is anoun and emphasiseaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “emphasis” sits inside “emphasise”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31626, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
emphasis is recorded at frequency rank #5,216, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛmfəsɪs/. emphasise is at rank #26,410, tagged as averb.
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 31626, this pair ranks #344,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of emphasis vs emphasise
Shared letters: aehimps. Private to "emphasis": -. Private to "emphasise": -.
"emphasis" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC · "emphasise" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "emphasis" and "emphasise" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "emphasis" or "emphasise"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "emphasis" and "emphasise".
- Full dictionary entry for "emphasis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "emphasise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "emphasis" and "emphasise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "emphasise vs emphasize". 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 #344,584 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.