encorevsendureTell them apart

Quick tell: encore is a noun, endure is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“encore” is a noun and “endure” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,355
“encore” frequency rank
#9,328
“endure” frequency rank
26683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encore endure
Definition A brief extra performance, done after the main performance is complete. To continue or carry on, despite obstacles or hardships; to persist.

Where the eye mixes encore and endure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. encore and endure follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
encore
6 ch
endure

Visual trap between encore and endure

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: encore is /ˈɒŋkɔː/ while endure is /ɪnˈd͡ʒʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encore is recorded at frequency rank #17,355, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɒŋkɔː/. endure is at rank #9,328, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈd͡ʒʊə(ɹ)/.

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 26683, this pair ranks #384,867 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of encore vs endure

Shared letters: enr. Private to "encore": co. Private to "endure": du.

"encore" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "endure" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encore ← ecnore · enccore · encoer · encorre · encroe · enncore · enocre · necore
  • endure ← ednure · enddure · endrue · enduer · endurre · enndure · enudre · nedure

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encore" for "endure" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "encore" is a noun and "endure" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "encore" vs "endure" - which ranks higher?
"endure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,328 in our English list, against #17,355 for "encore". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "encore" and "endure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "encore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "endure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #384,867 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encore" and "endure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encoder vs encore". 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 #384,867 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list