enhancevsenhancerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#6,683
“enhance” frequency rank
#35,706
“enhancer” frequency rank
42389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enhance enhancer
Definition To lift, raise up. Something that enhances.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enhance and enhancer apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
enhance
8 ch
enhancer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enhance is /ɪnˈhɑːns/ while enhancer is /ɪnˈhɑːnsə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “enhance” sits inside “enhancer”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enhance is recorded at frequency rank #6,683, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈhɑːns/. enhancer is at rank #35,706, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪnˈhɑːnsə/.

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 42389, this pair ranks #249,674 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enhance vs enhancer

Shared letters: acehn. Private to "enhance": -. Private to "enhancer": r.

"enhance" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "enhancer" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enhanceehnance · enahnce · enhacne · enhancce · enhanec · enhannce · enhence · enhhance
  • enhancerehnancer · enahncer · enhacner · enhanccer · enhancerr · enhancre · enhanecr · enhanncer

Frequency comparison

enhance#6,683
enhancer#35,706

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enhance" and "enhancer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enhance" is a verb and "enhancer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enhance" or "enhancer"?
"enhance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,683 in our English list, against #35,706 for "enhancer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enhance vs enhancer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “enhance”; for a noun, it's “enhancer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “enhance” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list