Which to use
“elm” and “exam” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,864
- “elm” frequency rank
- #28,546
- “exam” frequency rank
- 76410
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | elm | exam |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Orme. | Examen (dans le sens lié aux études universitaires). |
Where the eye mixes elm and exam
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. elm runs 3 letters (VCC) against exam's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between elm and exam
A purely visual mix-up. elm (\ˈɛlm\) 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 76410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
elm is recorded at frequency rank #47,864, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈɛlm\. 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 76410, this pair ranks #31,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of elm vs exam
Shared letters: em. Private to "elm": l. Private to "exam": ax.
"elm" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "exam" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exam ← eaxm · examm · exma · exxam · xeam
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "elm" for "exam" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "elm" or "exam" show up more?
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 "elm" 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 #31,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "elm" and "exam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elm vs EPO". 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 #31,228 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.