Which to use
“banjo” and “banks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,292
- “banjo” frequency rank
- #2,061
- “banks” frequency rank
- 22353
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | banjo | banks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A stringed musical instrument (chordophone), usually with a round body, a membrane-like soundboard and a fretted neck, played by plucking or strumming the strings. | plural of bank |
Where the eye mixes banjo and banks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between banjo and banks
A purely visual mix-up. banjo (/ˈbæn.dʒəʊ/) and banks (/ˈbæŋks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22353, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
banjo is recorded at frequency rank #20,292, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæn.dʒəʊ/. banks is at rank #2,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæŋks/.
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 22353, this pair ranks #417,209 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of banjo vs banks
Shared letters: abn. Private to "banjo": jo. Private to "banks": ks.
"banjo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "banks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "banjo" for "banks" ever safe?
Which is more common, "banjo" or "banks"?
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 "banjo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "banks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,209 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "banjo" and "banks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bandy vs banjo". 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 #417,209 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.