Which to use
“enemy” and “energy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,870
- “enemy” frequency rank
- #14,924
- “energy” frequency rank
- 62794
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enemy | energy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ennemi. | Énergie. |
Where the eye mixes enemy and energy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between enemy and energy
A purely visual mix-up. enemy (\ˈɛn.ə.mi\) and energy (\ˈɛn.ɚ.d͡ʒi\) 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 62794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enemy is recorded at frequency rank #47,870, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈɛn.ə.mi\. energy is at rank #14,924, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈɛn.ɚ.d͡ʒi\.
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 62794, this pair ranks #85,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of enemy vs energy
Shared letters: eny. Private to "enemy": m. Private to "energy": gr.
"enemy" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "energy" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "enemy" and "energy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "enemy" or "energy"?
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 "enemy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "energy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enemy" and "energy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enemy vs enjoy". 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 #85,259 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.