Which to use
“eau” and “exam” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #287
- “eau” frequency rank
- #28,546
- “exam” frequency rank
- 28833
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eau | exam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Liquide transparent, incolore, inodore et insipide à l’état pur, qui est le principal constituant des lacs, rivières, mers et océans. | Examen (dans le sens lié aux études universitaires). |
Where the eye mixes eau and exam
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: eau vs exam
A purely visual mix-up. eau (\o\) and exam (\ɛɡ.zam\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eau is recorded at frequency rank #287, classified as anoun, pronounced \o\. exam is at rank #28,546, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zam\.
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 28833, this pair ranks #320,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eau vs exam
Shared letters: ae. Private to "eau": u. Private to "exam": mx.
"eau" · 3 letters · shape VVV · "exam" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exam ← eaxm · examm · exma · exxam · xeam
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "eau" and "exam" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "eau" or "exam" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "eau" and "exam" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "eau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #320,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eau" and "exam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs exam". 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 #320,394 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.