effectsvstabsConfusable pair

Which to use

“effects” and “tabs” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,305
“effects” frequency rank
#31,815
“tabs” frequency rank
56120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature effects tabs
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs effect 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs tab

Letter map: effects vs tabs

Shared letters muted; letters that set effects and tabs apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. effects runs 7 letters (VCCVCCC) against tabs's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
effects
4 ch
tabs

Pair insight - effects / tabs

effects and tabs are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 3 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

effects is recorded at frequency rank #24,305, classified as averb, pronounced […]. tabs is at rank #31,815, 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 56120, this pair ranks #952,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of effects vs tabs

Shared letters: st. Private to "effects": cef. Private to "tabs": ab.

"effects" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "tabs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • effectsefects · efefcts · effcets · effeccts · effecst · effectss · effectts · effetcs
  • tabsatbs · tabbs · tabss · tasb · tbas · ttabs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "effects" for "tabs" ever safe?
No. They differ by 3 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "effects" vs "tabs" - which ranks higher?
"effects" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,305 in our German list, against #31,815 for "tabs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "effects" and "tabs".

  • Full dictionary entry for "effects" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tabs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #952,680 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "effects" and "tabs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs tabs". 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 #952,680 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