ejércitovseméritoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ejército is a noun, emérito is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ejército” is a noun and “emérito” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#683
“ejército” frequency rank
#30,448
“emérito” frequency rank
31131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ejército emérito
Definition Conjunto grande y organizado de soldados que combaten en común. Que se ha retirado de un cargo y recibe algún premio por sus buenos servicios

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ejército and emérito apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
ejército
7 ch
emérito

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ejército is [eˈxeɾsit̪o] while emérito is [eˈmeɾit̪o]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ejército is recorded at frequency rank #683, classified as anoun, pronounced [eˈxeɾsit̪o]. emérito is at rank #30,448, tagged as anadj, pronounced [eˈmeɾit̪o].

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 31131, this pair ranks #208,615 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ejército vs emérito

Shared letters: eiorté. Private to "ejército": cj. Private to "emérito": m.

"ejército" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "emérito" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Frequency comparison

ejército#683
emérito#30,448

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ejército" and "emérito" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ejército" is a noun and "emérito" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ejército" or "emérito"?
"ejército" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #683 in our Spanish list, against #30,448 for "emérito". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ejército vs emérito

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ejército”; for an adjective, it's “emérito”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ejército” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list