Which to use
“bank” and “banks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #705
- “bank” frequency rank
- #2,061
- “banks” frequency rank
- 2766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bank | banks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs. | plural of bank |
Where the eye mixes bank and banks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. bank (/ˈbæŋk/) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “bank” sits inside “banks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bank is recorded at frequency rank #705, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæŋk/. 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 2766, this pair ranks #524,101 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bank vs banks
Shared letters: abkn. Private to "bank": -. Private to "banks": s.
"bank" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "banks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC