Which to use
“exorcism” and “exorcist” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,227
- “exorcism” frequency rank
- #31,168
- “exorcist” frequency rank
- 64395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exorcism | exorcist |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The ritual act of driving out evil spirits from persons, places or things that are possessed by them. | A person, especially a priest or priestess, who is a masterful practitioner in purification and exorcism to force out evil spirits and/or demons from a living being. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set exorcism and exorcist apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. exorcism (/ˈɛk.sɔː.sɪ.zəm/) and exorcist (/ˈɛk.sɔː.sɪst/) 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 - m in “exorcism” becomes t in “exorcist”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exorcism is recorded at frequency rank #33,227, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛk.sɔː.sɪ.zəm/. exorcist is at rank #31,168, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛk.sɔː.sɪst/.
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 64395, this pair ranks #77,952 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of exorcism vs exorcist
Shared letters: ceiorsx. Private to "exorcism": m. Private to "exorcist": t.
"exorcism" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC · "exorcist" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "exorcism" and "exorcist" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "exorcism" or "exorcist"?
Remembering exorcism vs exorcist
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “exorcism” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable