Which to use
“arrive” and “arrives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,739
- “arrive” frequency rank
- #5,933
- “arrives” frequency rank
- 9672
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrive | arrives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To reach; to get to a certain place. | third-person singular simple present indicative of arrive |
Where the eye mixes arrive and arrives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. arrive runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against arrives's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: arrive vs arrives
A purely visual mix-up. arrive (/əˈɹaɪv/) and arrives (/əˈɹaɪvz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “arrive” sits inside “arrives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arrive is recorded at frequency rank #3,739, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈɹaɪv/. arrives is at rank #5,933, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈɹaɪvz/.
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 9672, this pair ranks #496,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of arrive vs arrives
Shared letters: aeirv. Private to "arrive": -. Private to "arrives": s.
"arrive" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "arrives" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "arrive" and "arrives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "arrive" or "arrives"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #496,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrive" and "arrives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Arie vs arrive". 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 #496,205 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.