Which to use
“examine” is a verb and “example” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,325
- “examine” frequency rank
- #540
- “example” frequency rank
- 5865
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | examine | example |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To observe or inspect carefully or critically. | Something that is representative of all such things in a group. |
Where the eye mixes examine and example
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: examine vs example
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: examine is /ɪɡˈzæmɪn/ while example is /ɪɡˈzɑːm.pəl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
examine is recorded at frequency rank #5,325, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪɡˈzæmɪn/. example is at rank #540, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪɡˈzɑːm.pəl/.
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 5865, this pair ranks #513,704 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of examine vs example
Shared letters: aemx. Private to "examine": in. Private to "example": lp.
"examine" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "example" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "examine" and "example" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "examine" or "example" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "examine" and "example" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "examine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "example" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #513,704 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "examine" and "example" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "examine vs examiner". 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 #513,704 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.