Which to use
“exes” and “eyes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,415
- “exes” frequency rank
- #619
- “eyes” frequency rank
- 27034
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exes | eyes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ex | plural of eye |
Where the eye mixes exes and eyes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between exes and eyes
A purely visual mix-up. exes (/ˈɛksəz/) and eyes (/aɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - x in “exes” becomes y in “eyes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exes is recorded at frequency rank #26,415, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛksəz/. eyes is at rank #619, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɪz/.
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 27034, this pair ranks #382,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of exes vs eyes
Shared letters: es. Private to "exes": x. Private to "eyes": y.
"exes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "eyes" · 4 letters · shape VVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "exes" for "eyes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "exes" or "eyes"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "exes" and "eyes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "exes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "eyes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,152 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exes" and "eyes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exes 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 #382,152 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.