Which to use
“ems” and “exams” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,925
- “ems” frequency rank
- #33,252
- “exams” frequency rank
- 69177
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ems | exams |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de em. | Pluriel de exam. |
Where the eye mixes ems and exams
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ems runs 3 letters (VCC) against exams's 5 (VCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ems and exams
A purely visual mix-up. ems (\ɛm\) and exams (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69177, 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\. exams is at rank #33,252, 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 69177, this pair ranks #56,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ems vs exams
Shared letters: ems. Private to "ems": -. Private to "exams": ax.
"ems" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "exams" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exams ← eaxms · examms · examss · exasm · exmas · exxams · xeams
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ems" and "exams" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ems" vs "exams" - which ranks higher?
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 "exams" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ems" and "exams" 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 #56,166 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.