English homophones
roots/routes
"roots" (#4,047 written frequency) beats "routes" (#5,260) in this 2-word /ɹuːts/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ɹuːts/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "roots" leads at #4,047, with "routes" trailing at #5,260.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "ro" then splits - "roots" (5 letters) vs "routes" (6).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across roots, routes: orst. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
roots
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory orst · no private letters vs siblings
routes
6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVCVC
Inventory eorstu · private eu
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "roots" when you mean: plural of root
- Write "routes" when you mean: plural of route
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (roots, routes). Here's where to go from here.
- "roots" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #4,047 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: real · reel. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "roots, routes" 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.