Which to use
“exceed” is a verb and “excess” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,033
- “exceed” frequency rank
- #5,035
- “excess” frequency rank
- 13068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exceed | excess |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be larger, greater than (something). | The state of surpassing or going beyond a limit; the state of being beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; more than what is usual or proper. |
Where the eye mixes exceed and excess
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between exceed and excess
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exceed is /ɪkˈsiːd/ while excess is /ˈɛksɛs/. 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 13068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exceed is recorded at frequency rank #8,033, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsiːd/. excess is at rank #5,035, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛksɛs/.
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 13068, this pair ranks #477,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of exceed vs excess
Shared letters: cex. Private to "exceed": d. Private to "excess": s.
"exceed" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "excess" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "exceed" and "excess" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "exceed" or "excess" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "exceed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "excess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #477,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exceed" and "excess" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "emcee vs exceed". 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 #477,953 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.