Which to use
“erg” and “eyre” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,222
- “erg” frequency rank
- #24,442
- “eyre” frequency rank
- 72664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erg | eyre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A unit of work or energy, being the amount of work done by a force of one dyne applied through a distance of one centimeter. Equal to 10⁻⁷ joules. | A journey taken by certain Medieval English itinerant judges (justices in eyre) |
Where the eye mixes erg and eyre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. erg runs 3 letters (VCC) against eyre's 4 (VVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between erg and eyre
A purely visual mix-up. erg (/ɜːɡ/) and eyre (/ɛəɹ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erg is recorded at frequency rank #48,222, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɜːɡ/. eyre is at rank #24,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɛəɹ/.
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 72664, this pair ranks #42,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of erg vs eyre
Shared letters: er. Private to "erg": g. Private to "eyre": y.
"erg" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "eyre" · 4 letters · shape VVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- eyre ← erye · eyer · eyrre · eyyre · yere
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "erg" for "eyre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "erg" or "eyre"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "erg" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eyre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erg" and "eyre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erg vs Eri". 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 #42,306 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.