blamesvsblazerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: blames is a verb, blazer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“blames” is a verb and “blazer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,863
“blames” frequency rank
#20,299
“blazer” frequency rank
34162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blames blazer
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of blame A semi-formal jacket.

Where the eye mixes blames and blazer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
blames
6 ch
blazer

Visual trap between blames and blazer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blames is /bleɪmz/ while blazer is /ˈbleɪzə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blames is recorded at frequency rank #13,863, classified as averb, pronounced /bleɪmz/. blazer is at rank #20,299, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbleɪzə/.

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 34162, this pair ranks #323,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of blames vs blazer

Shared letters: abel. Private to "blames": ms. Private to "blazer": rz.

"blames" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "blazer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blamesbalmes · bblames · blaems · blamess · blammes · blamse · bllames · blmaes
  • blazerbalzer · bblazer · blaezr · blazerr · blazre · blazzer · bllazer · blzaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blames" and "blazer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blames" is a verb and "blazer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "blames" vs "blazer" - which ranks higher?
"blames" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,863 in our English list, against #20,299 for "blazer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "blames" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blazer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blames" and "blazer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beamer vs blazer". 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 #323,139 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list