Which to use
“blame” and “blazes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,330
- “blame” frequency rank
- #37,827
- “blazes” frequency rank
- 40157
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blame | blazes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Censure. | plural of blaze |
Where the eye mixes blame and blazes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. blame runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against blazes's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses blame with blazes
A purely visual mix-up. blame (/bleɪm/) and blazes (/ˈbleɪzɪz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blame is recorded at frequency rank #2,330, classified as anoun, pronounced /bleɪm/. blazes is at rank #37,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbleɪzɪz/.
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 40157, this pair ranks #270,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of blame vs blazes
Shared letters: abel. Private to "blame": m. Private to "blazes": sz.
"blame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "blazes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blame" for "blazes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "blame" or "blazes"?
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 "blame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blazes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blame" and "blazes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bladed vs blazes". 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 #270,147 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.