Which to use
“emphasis” is a noun and “emphasize” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,216
- “emphasis” frequency rank
- #11,373
- “emphasize” frequency rank
- 16589
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | emphasis | emphasize |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important. | To stress, give emphasis or extra weight to (something). |
Where the eye mixes emphasis and emphasize
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses emphasis with emphasize
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: emphasis is /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ while emphasize is /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16589, 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/. emphasize is at rank #11,373, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɛm.fə.saɪz/.
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 16589, this pair ranks #456,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of emphasis vs emphasize
Shared letters: aehimps. Private to "emphasis": -. Private to "emphasize": z.
"emphasis" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC · "emphasize" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "emphasis" and "emphasize" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "emphasis" or "emphasize" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "emphasis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "emphasize" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #456,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "emphasis" and "emphasize" 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 #456,809 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.