Which to use
“amiss” is an adjective and “amuses” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,430
- “amiss” frequency rank
- #48,056
- “amuses” frequency rank
- 79486
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | amiss | amuses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Wrong; faulty; out of order; improper or otherwise incorrect. | third-person singular simple present indicative of amuse |
Where the eye mixes amiss and amuses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. amiss runs 5 letters (VCVCC) against amuses's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses amiss with amuses
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amiss is /əˈmɪs/ while amuses is /əˈmjuːzɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
amiss is recorded at frequency rank #31,430, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈmɪs/. amuses is at rank #48,056, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈmjuːzɪz/.
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 79486, this pair ranks #21,939 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of amiss vs amuses
Shared letters: ams. Private to "amiss": i. Private to "amuses": eu.
"amiss" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "amuses" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "amiss" and "amuses" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "amiss" or "amuses"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "amiss" and "amuses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "amiss" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "amuses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,939 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "amiss" and "amuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amulets vs amuses". 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 #21,939 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.