makevsmoveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#87
“make” frequency rank
#447
“move” frequency rank
534
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature make move
Definition To create. To change place or posture; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another.

Where the eye mixes make and move

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
make
4 ch
move

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. make (/meɪk/) and move (/muːv/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

make is recorded at frequency rank #87, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪk/. move is at rank #447, tagged as averb, pronounced /muːv/.

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 534, this pair ranks #529,251 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of make vs move

Shared letters: em. Private to "make": ak. Private to "move": ov.

"make" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "move" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makeamke · maek · makke · mkae · mmake
  • movemmove · moev · movve · mvoe · omve

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "make" and "move" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/meɪk/ versus /muːv/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "make" or "move"?
"make" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #87 in our English list, against #447 for "move". 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