banksvsbatesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#21,539
“banks” frequency rank
#34,536
“bates” frequency rank
56075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banks bates
Definition Plural des Substantivs bank 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bate

Letter map: banks vs bates

Shared letters muted; letters that set banks and bates apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
banks
5 ch
bates

Grammar separator: banks vs bates

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: banks is anoun and batesaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banks is recorded at frequency rank #21,539, classified as anoun, pronounced [bæŋks]. bates is at rank #34,536, 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 56075, this pair ranks #954,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of banks vs bates

Shared letters: abs. Private to "banks": kn. Private to "bates": et.

"banks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "bates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banksabnks · bakns · bankks · bankss · bannks · bansk · bbanks · bnaks
  • batesbatess · batse · battes · bbates · btaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "banks" and "bates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "banks" is a noun and "bates" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "banks" vs "bates" - which ranks higher?
"banks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,539 in our German list, against #34,536 for "bates". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "banks" vs "bates" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "banks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #954,560 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banks" and "bates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bates 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 #954,560 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