Exercise or exorcise?
exercise is a noun meaning “Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability”; exorcise is a verb meaning “To drive out (an evil spirit) from a person, place or thing, especially by an…”. Use exercise as a noun and exorcise as a verb (exercise is also a verb: “To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) exercise is about 186 times as common as exorcise.
What is the difference between exercise and exorcise?
| exercise | exorcise | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | verb |
| Meaning | Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability Activity intended to improve physical, or sometimes mental, strength and fitness To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop | To drive out (an evil spirit) from a person, place or thing, especially by an incantation or prayer To rid (a person, place or thing) of an evil spirit |
| Example | The teacher told us that the next exercise is to write an essay | The priest attempted to exorcise the evil spirit from the house |
| Forms | exercises | exorcises, exorcising, exorcised |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɛk.sə.saɪz/ /ˈɛk.sɚ.saɪz/ /ˈek.sə.sɑez/ | /ˈɛk.sɔː.saɪz/ /ˈɛk.sɔɹˌsaɪz/ /ˈɛk.sɚˌsaɪz/ |
| In writing | 48 times per million words | about once in every 4 million words |
Sources: exercise and exorcise in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of exercise and exorcise
exercise
- 1
Any activity designed to develop or hone a skill or ability
The teacher told us that the next exercise is to write an essay
- 2
To exert for the sake of training or improvement; to practice in order to develop
to exercise troops or horses; to exercise one's brain with a puzzle
- 3
Activity intended to improve physical, or sometimes mental, strength and fitness
I like to do my exercises every morning before breakfast. I do calisthenics for physical exercise, and I do crosswords for mental exercise
- 4
To perform physical activity for health or training
I exercise at the gym every day
- 5
Such activity of physical nature, for physical fitness (plus also mental benefit)
Swimming is good exercise
- 6
To use (a right, an option, etc.); to put into practice
exercise caution
- 7
Such activity of mental nature, for neurocognitive health
Such exercises as puzzles and chess can help keep the mind sharp as we age
- 8
To occupy the attention and effort of; to task; to tax, especially in a painful or vexatious manner; harass; to vex; to worry or make anxious
exercised with pain
exorcise
- 1
To drive out (an evil spirit) from a person, place or thing, especially by an incantation or prayer
The priest attempted to exorcise the evil spirit from the house
- 2
To rid (a person, place or thing) of an evil spirit
They hired a specialist to exorcise the haunted object
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, exercise or exorcise?
exercise appears 48 times per million words; exorcise about once in every 4 million words.
exercise 48 times per million wordsexorcise about once in every 4 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search exercise vs exorcise?
“exercise vs exorcise” is searched about 110 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“exorcise vs exercise”, “exercise or exorcise”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.