Which to use
“exam” and “exams” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,546
- “exam” frequency rank
- #33,252
- “exams” frequency rank
- 61798
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exam | exams |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Examen (dans le sens lié aux études universitaires). | Pluriel de exam. |
Same sound, different letters: exam vs exams
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. exam runs 4 letters (VCVC) against exams's 5 (VCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: exam vs exams
This is the hard kind. exam and exams are pronounced identically (\ɛɡ.zam\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “exam” sits inside “exams”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exam is recorded at frequency rank #28,546, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.zam\. 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 61798, this pair ranks #90,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of exam vs exams
Shared letters: aemx. Private to "exam": -. Private to "exams": s.
"exam" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "exams" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "exam" and "exams" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "exam" vs "exams" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "exam" 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 #90,376 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exam" and "exams" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs exam". 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 #90,376 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.