exilevsexitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“exile” and “exit” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,042
“exile” frequency rank
#3,943
“exit” frequency rank
12985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exile exit
Definition The state of being banished from one's home or country. An act of going out or going away, or leaving; a departure.

Where the eye mixes exile and exit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
exile
4 ch
exit

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. exile (/ˈɛɡˌzaɪl/) and exit (/ˈɛksɪt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exile is recorded at frequency rank #9,042, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛɡˌzaɪl/. exit is at rank #3,943, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛksɪt/.

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 12985, this pair ranks #478,379 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exile vs exit

Shared letters: eix. Private to "exile": l. Private to "exit": t.

"exile" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "exit" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exileeixle · exiel · exille · exlie · exxile · xeile
  • exiteixt · exitt · exti · exxit · xeit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exile" and "exit" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɛɡˌzaɪl/ versus /ˈɛksɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "exile" or "exit"?
"exit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,943 in our English list, against #9,042 for "exile". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list