Which to use
“bishop” and “bishops” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,742
- “bishop” frequency rank
- #9,571
- “bishops” frequency rank
- 13313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bishop | bishops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory. | plural of bishop |
Where the eye mixes bishop and bishops
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bishop and bishops
A purely visual mix-up. bishop (/ˈbɪʃəp/) and bishops (/ˈbɪʃəps/) 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) - “bishop” sits inside “bishops”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bishop is recorded at frequency rank #3,742, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɪʃəp/. bishops is at rank #9,571, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɪʃəps/.
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 13313, this pair ranks #476,542 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bishop vs bishops
Shared letters: bhiops. Private to "bishop": -. Private to "bishops": -.
"bishop" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bishops" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bishop" and "bishops" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bishop" vs "bishops" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bishop" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bishops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #476,542 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bishop" and "bishops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bishop vs bison". 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 #476,542 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.