Which to use
“ewe” and “exes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,448
- “ewe” frequency rank
- #26,415
- “exes” frequency rank
- 63863
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ewe | exes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A female sheep, as opposed to a ram. | plural of ex |
Where the eye mixes ewe and exes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ewe runs 3 letters (VCV) against exes's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ewe with exes
A purely visual mix-up. ewe (/juː/) and exes (/ˈɛksəz/) 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 63863, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ewe is recorded at frequency rank #37,448, classified as anoun, pronounced /juː/. exes is at rank #26,415, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛksəz/.
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 63863, this pair ranks #80,698 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ewe vs exes
Shared letters: e. Private to "ewe": w. Private to "exes": sx.
"ewe" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "exes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exes ← eexs · exess · exse · exxes · xees
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ewe" for "exes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ewe" vs "exes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ewe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #80,698 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ewe" and "exes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Eri vs ewe". 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 #80,698 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.