Which to use
“exposé” is a noun and “exposes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,126
- “exposé” frequency rank
- #16,704
- “exposes” frequency rank
- 58830
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exposé | exposes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of exposing somebody or something; a shameful showing up. | third-person singular simple present indicative of expose |
Where the eye mixes exposé and exposes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. exposé runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against exposes's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between exposé and exposes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exposé is /ˌɛkspoʊˈzeɪ/ while exposes is /ɪksˈpəʊzɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exposé is recorded at frequency rank #42,126, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌɛkspoʊˈzeɪ/. exposes is at rank #16,704, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪksˈpəʊzɪz/.
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 58830, this pair ranks #109,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of exposé vs exposes
Shared letters: eopsx. Private to "exposé": é. Private to "exposes": -.
"exposé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "exposes" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exposes ← epxoses · exopses · expoess · exposess · exposse · exposses · expposes · expsoes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "exposé" and "exposes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "exposé" or "exposes" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "exposé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exposes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #109,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exposé" and "exposes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espouse vs exposé". 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 #109,989 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.