eatvsexTell them apart

Quick tell: eat is a verb, ex is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eat” is a verb and “ex” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,078
“eat” frequency rank
#743
“ex” frequency rank
38821
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eat ex
Definition Comer, tomar. Que ya ha finalizado el estado al que hace referencia.

Letter map: eat vs ex

Shared letters muted; letters that set eat and ex apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
eat
2 ch
ex

Grammar separator: eat vs ex

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: eat is averb and exanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eat is recorded at frequency rank #38,078, classified as averb. ex is at rank #743, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈeks].

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 38821, this pair ranks #167,875 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eat vs ex

Shared letters: e. Private to "eat": at. Private to "ex": x.

"eat" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "ex" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eat" for "ex" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eat" is a verb and "ex" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "eat" or "ex" show up more?
"ex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #743 in our Spanish list, against #38,078 for "eat". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "eat" vs "ex" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #167,875 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eat" and "ex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eat vs EPL". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #167,875 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list