# believe vs believes

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### believe
*verb · IPA /bɪˈliːv/ · frequency rank #286*
To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).

### believes
*verb · IPA /bɪˈliːvz/ · frequency rank #3,409*
third-person singular simple present indicative of believe

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-believes