exactvsextWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: exact is a adjective, ext is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“exact” is an adjective and “ext” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,147
“exact” frequency rank
#36,838
“ext” frequency rank
40985
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exact ext
Definition Qui suit rigoureusement la vérité, la convention. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de exen.

Where the eye mixes exact and ext

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. exact runs 5 letters (VCVCC) against ext's 3 (VCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
exact
3 ch
ext

Why the eye confuses exact with ext

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exact is \ɛɡ.zakt\ while ext is \ɛkst\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40985, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exact is recorded at frequency rank #4,147, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛɡ.zakt\. ext is at rank #36,838, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛkst\.

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 40985, this pair ranks #236,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exact vs ext

Shared letters: etx. Private to "exact": ac. Private to "ext": -.

"exact" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "ext" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exact ← eaxct · exacct · exactt · exatc · excat · exxact · xeact

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exact" and "ext" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exact" is an adjective and "ext" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "exact" vs "ext" - which ranks higher?
"exact" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,147 in our French list, against #36,838 for "ext". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "exact" and "ext" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "exact" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ext" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #236,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exact" and "ext" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émit vs ext". 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 #236,450 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