Which to use
“ems” and “ends” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,925
- “ems” frequency rank
- #12,371
- “ends” frequency rank
- 48296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ems | ends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de em. | Pluriel de end. |
Where the eye mixes ems and ends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ems vs ends
A purely visual mix-up. ems (\ɛm\) and ends (\ˈɛndz\) 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 48296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ems is recorded at frequency rank #35,925, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛm\. ends is at rank #12,371, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɛndz\.
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 48296, this pair ranks #180,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ems vs ends
Shared letters: es. Private to "ems": m. Private to "ends": dn.
"ems" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ends" · 4 letters · shape VCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ends ← edns · endds · endss · ennds · ensd · neds
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ems" and "ends" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ems" or "ends" 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 "ems" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,027 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ems" and "ends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émit vs ems". 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 #180,027 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.