Which to use
“exam” and “exon” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,598
- “exam” frequency rank
- #49,909
- “exon” frequency rank
- 54507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exam | exon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of examination, especially when meaning “test” or in compound terms. | An officer of the King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard. |
Letter map: exam vs exon
Shared letters muted; letters that set exam and exon apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. exam and exon follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Pair insight - exam / exon
exam and exon are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exam is recorded at frequency rank #4,598, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪɡˈzæm/. exon is at rank #49,909, tagged as anoun.
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 54507, this pair ranks #140,578 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of exam vs exon
Shared letters: ex. Private to "exam": am. Private to "exon": no.
"exam" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "exon" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exam" and "exon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "exam" vs "exon" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "exam" and "exon".
- Full dictionary entry for "exam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #140,578 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exam" and "exon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Enos vs exon". 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 #140,578 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.