Which to use
“examen” and “exams” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,702
- “examen” frequency rank
- #33,252
- “exams” frequency rank
- 34954
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | examen | exams |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Observation attentive, réfléchie. | Pluriel de exam. |
Where the eye mixes examen and exams
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. examen runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against exams's 5 (VCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: examen vs exams
A purely visual mix-up. examen (\ɛɡ.za.mɛ̃\) and exams (\ɛɡ.zam\) 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 34954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
examen is recorded at frequency rank #1,702, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛɡ.za.mɛ̃\. 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 34954, this pair ranks #280,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of examen vs exams
Shared letters: aemx. Private to "examen": n. Private to "exams": s.
"examen" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "exams" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "examen" for "exams" ever safe?
Which is more common, "examen" or "exams"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "examen" 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 #280,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "examen" and "exams" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épars vs exams". 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 #280,200 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.