épivsexitWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,231
“épi” frequency rank
#21,315
“exit” frequency rank
47546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature épi exit
Definition Partie du blé et de plusieurs autres plantes graminées, qui est placée au sommet de la tige, et formée par la réunion des graines. Sortie théâtrale.

Where the eye mixes épi and exit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
épi
4 ch
exit

Visual trap between épi and exit

A purely visual mix-up. épi (\e.pi\) and exit (\ɛɡ.zit\) 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 47546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épi is recorded at frequency rank #26,231, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.pi\. exit is at rank #21,315, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zit\.

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 47546, this pair ranks #186,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of épi vs exit

Shared letters: i. Private to "épi": . Private to "exit": etx.

"épi" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "exit" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exiteixt · exitt · exti · exxit · xeit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "épi" and "exit" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.pi\ versus \ɛɡ.zit\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "épi" or "exit" show up more?
"exit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,315 in our French list, against #26,231 for "épi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "épi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "épi" and "exit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épi vs épier". 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 #186,100 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list