exact vs exalt, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“exact” is an adjective and “exalt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,944
“exact” frequency rank: #47,049
“exalt” frequency rank: 49993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	exact	exalt
Definition	Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect.	To honor; to hold in high esteem; to praise or worship.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set exact and exalt apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

exact

5 ch

exalt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exact is /ɪɡˈzækt/ while exalt is /ɪɡˈzɒlt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “exact” becomes l in “exalt”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exact is recorded at frequency rank #2,944, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪɡˈzækt/. exalt is at rank #47,049, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪɡˈzɒlt/.

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 49993, this pair ranks #178,336 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exact vs exalt

Shared letters: aetx. Private to "exact": c. Private to "exalt": l.

"exact" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "exalt" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

exact ← eaxct · exacct · exactt · exatc · excat · exxact · xeact
exalt ← eaxlt · exallt · exaltt · exatl · exlat · exxalt · xealt

Frequency comparison

exact#2,944

exalt#47,049

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exact" and "exalt" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exact" is an adjective and "exalt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "exact" or "exalt"?

"exact" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,944 in our English list, against #47,049 for "exalt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering exact vs exalt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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