Which to use
“excise” is a noun and “excite” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,630
- “excise” frequency rank
- #19,831
- “excite” frequency rank
- 40461
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | excise | excite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A tax charged on goods produced within the country (as opposed to customs duties, charged on goods from outside the country). | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set excise and excite apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
excise and excite form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - s in “excise” becomes t in “excite” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
excise is recorded at frequency rank #20,630, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛkˌsaɪz/. excite is at rank #19,831, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsaɪt/.
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 40461, this pair ranks #267,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "excise" and "excite" be used interchangeably?
Remembering excise vs excite
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “excise”; for a verb, it's “excite”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “excise” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable