ArchivevsarchivesConfusable pair

Quick tell: Archive is a noun, archives is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Archive” is a noun and “archives” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,227
“Archive” frequency rank
#32,914
“archives” frequency rank
45141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Archive archives
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Archiv 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs archive

Letter map: Archive vs archives

Shared letters muted; letters that set Archive and archives apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

7 ch
Archive
8 ch
archives

Grammar separator: Archive vs archives

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Archive is anoun and archivesaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Archive” sits inside “archives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Archive is recorded at frequency rank #12,227, classified as anoun, pronounced [aʁˈçiːvə]. archives is at rank #32,914, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 45141, this pair ranks #1,363,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Archive vs archives

Shared letters: acehirv. Private to "Archive": -. Private to "archives": s.

"Archive" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "archives" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Archiveacrhive · arcchive · archhive · archiev · archivve · archvie · arcihve · arhcive
  • archivesacrhives · arcchives · archhives · archievs · archivess · archivse · archivves · archvies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Archive" and "archives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Archive" is a noun and "archives" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Archive" vs "archives" - which ranks higher?
"Archive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,227 in our German list, against #32,914 for "archives". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "Archive" vs "archives" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Archive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "archives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,363,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Archive" and "archives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "archives vs puzzles". 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 #1,363,073 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list