Difference between emigrate and immigrate

This is part of the difference between series.

Recently, someone asked me to explain difference between the words emigrate and immigrate. Here’s the difference between the two.

Emigrate

Emigrate means to leave a country.

  • I’m going to emigrate out of this place.
  • My grandparents emigrated from Germany.

Immigrate

Immigrate, on the other hand, means to come into a county.

  • I’m going to immigrate into Canada.
  • My grandparents immigrated to Chile.

Memory tip: One way to remember the difference between emigrate and immigrate is that emigrate and exit both begin with E and emigrate means to exit a country. Likewise, immigrate and into both begin with I, and immigrate means to come into a country.

Which words do you confuse? Let me know in the comments below.

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By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.