En or in?
en is a noun meaning “A unit of measurement equal to half an em (half the height of the type in use)”; in is a preposition meaning “Contained by; inside”. Use en as a noun and in as a preposition (in is also a noun: “A position of power or influence, or a way to get it”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) in is about 589 times as common as en.
What is the difference between en and in?
| en | in | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, preposition, pronoun, prefix, suffix | preposition, verb, adverb, noun, adjective, prefix, suffix |
| Meaning | A unit of measurement equal to half an em (half the height of the type in use) Used in various phrases borrowed from French or formed as if borrowed from French (see "Derived terms" below) Him | Contained by; inside Within the bounds or limits of At or towards the interior of a defined space, such as a building or room |
| Example | embathe, enquire, enlist | The dog is in the kennel |
| Forms | ens | ins, inning, inned, in., i-, il- |
| Pronunciation | /ɛn/ /ɪn/ [ɑ̃] | /ən/ /ɪn/ /ɘn/ |
| In writing | 32 times per million words | 18,621 times per million words |
Sources: en and in in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of en and in
en
- 1
The name of the Latin script letter N/n
- 2
Used in various phrases borrowed from French or formed as if borrowed from French (see "Derived terms" below)
- 3
Him
- 4
The name of the Cyrillic script letter Н / н
- 5
in, into
embathe, enquire, enlist
- 6
Denotes the past participle form when attached to a verb
take + -en → taken
- 7
Used to denote the plural form of a small number of English nouns, the majority of whose etymologies go back to the n-stem (i.e. weak noun) declension of Germanic languages
aurochs + -en → aurochsen brother + -en → brethren (religious sense) child + -en → children (cf. childer) ox + -en → oxen
- 8
When attached to certain adjectives, it forms a transitive verb whose meaning is, to make (adjective). Usually, the verb is ergative, sometimes not. The same construction could also be done to…
white (adjective) + -en → whiten
in
- 1
Contained by; inside
The dog is in the kennel
- 2
At or towards the interior of a defined space, such as a building or room
Suddenly a strange man walked in
- 3
A position of power or influence, or a way to get it
His parents got him an in with the company
- 4
Located indoors, especially at home or at one's office or place of work
Is Mr. Smith in?
- 5
Abbreviation of inch or inches
- 6
Abbreviation of integrase
- 7
in, into, towards, within
inhold, inmove, intake, inthrill
- 8
in, into
il- before l, e.g. illusion im- before b, m, or p, e.g. imperil ir- before r, e.g. irrigate
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, en or in?
en appears 32 times per million words; in 18,621 times per million words.
en 32 times per million wordsin 18,621 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search en vs in?
“en vs in” is searched about 50 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“in vs en”, “en or in”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.