Which to use
“army” and “array” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #921
- “army” frequency rank
- #6,023
- “array” frequency rank
- 6944
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | army | array |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations. | Clothing and ornamentation; raiment. |
Where the eye mixes army and array
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: army vs array
A purely visual mix-up. army (/ˈɑː.mi/) and array (/əˈɹeɪ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
army is recorded at frequency rank #921, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑː.mi/. array is at rank #6,023, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈɹeɪ/.
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 6944, this pair ranks #509,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of army vs array
Shared letters: ary. Private to "army": m. Private to "array": -.
"army" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "array" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "army" and "array" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "army" or "array" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "army" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "array" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,301 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "army" and "array" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arras vs array". 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 #509,301 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.