eachvsetcWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: each is a adjective, etc is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“each” is an adjective and “etc” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,010
“each” frequency rank
#416
“etc” frequency rank
35426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature each etc
Definition Chaque. Variante orthographique de etc.

Where the eye mixes each and etc

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

4 ch
each
3 ch
etc

Why the eye confuses each with etc

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: each is \ˈitʃ\ while etc is \ɛt.se.te.ʁa\. 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 (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

each is recorded at frequency rank #35,010, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈitʃ\. etc is at rank #416, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɛt.se.te.ʁa\.

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 35426, this pair ranks #276,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of each vs etc

Shared letters: ce. Private to "each": ah. Private to "etc": t.

"each" · 4 letters · shape VVCC  ·  "etc" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eachaech · eacch · eachh · eahc · ecah

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "each" and "etc" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "each" is an adjective and "etc" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "each" or "etc"?
"etc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #416 in our French list, against #35,010 for "each". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "each" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "etc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #276,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "each" and "etc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "each vs EPCI". 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 #276,841 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list