English homophones
defenceless/defenseless
"defenseless" (#27,115 written frequency) beats "defenceless" (#36,101) in this 2-word /dɪˈfɛnsləs/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /dɪˈfɛnsləs/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "defenseless" leads at #27,115, with "defenceless" trailing at #36,101.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "defen" then splits - "defenceless" (11 letters) vs "defenseless" (11).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across defenceless, defenseless: deflns. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
defenceless
11 letters · 4 vowels · shape CVCVCCVCVCC
Inventory cdeflns · private c
defenseless
11 letters · 4 vowels · shape CVCVCCVCVCC
Inventory deflns · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "defenceless" when you mean: Without defence; undefended.
- Write "defenseless" when you mean: Lacking any form of defense; vulnerable; open to attack.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
- defenceless ← ddefenceless · deefnceless · defecneless · defencceless · defenceelss · defenceles
- defenseless ← ddefenseless · deefnseless · defenesless · defennseless · defenseelss · defenseles
Each spelling
adjective · /dɪˈfɛnsləs/ · #27,115 frequency
Lacking any form of defense; vulnerable; open to attack.
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (defenceless, defenseless). Here's where to go from here.
- "defenseless" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #27,115 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: dialogue · dialog. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "defenceless, defenseless" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.