Which to use
“amicus” is a noun and “Amis” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,677
- “amicus” frequency rank
- #33,933
- “Amis” frequency rank
- 73610
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | amicus | Amis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Someone not a party to a case who submits a brief and/or presents oral argument in that case. | A surname from Old French. |
Where the eye mixes amicus and Amis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between amicus and Amis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amicus is /ˈæm.ɪ.kəs/ while Amis is /əˈmiː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73610, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
amicus is recorded at frequency rank #39,677, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæm.ɪ.kəs/. Amis is at rank #33,933, tagged as aname, pronounced /əˈmiː/.
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 73610, this pair ranks #39,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of amicus vs Amis
Shared letters: aims. Private to "amicus": cu. Private to "Amis": -.
"amicus" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "Amis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "amicus" for "Amis" ever safe?
Which is more common, "amicus" or "Amis"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "amicus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Amis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "amicus" and "Amis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abacus vs amicus". 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 #39,060 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.