emsvseyesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ems” and “eyes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,925
“ems” frequency rank
#21,318
“eyes” frequency rank
57243
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ems eyes
Definition Pluriel de em. Pluriel de eye, « yeux ».

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ems and eyes apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ems
4 ch
eyes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ems (\ɛm\) and eyes (\aɪz\) 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 57243, 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\. eyes is at rank #21,318, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aɪz\.

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 57243, this pair ranks #116,197 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ems vs eyes

Shared letters: es. Private to "ems": m. Private to "eyes": y.

"ems" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "eyes" · 4 letters · shape VVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eyeseeys · eyess · eyse · eyyes · yees

Frequency comparison

ems#35,925
eyes#21,318

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ems" and "eyes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛm\ versus \aɪz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ems" or "eyes"?
"eyes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,318 in our French list, against #35,925 for "ems". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ems vs eyes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ems” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list