Which to use
“carb” and “cob” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,780
- “carb” frequency rank
- #27,404
- “cob” frequency rank
- 46184
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carb | cob |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clipping of carbohydrate | A corncob. |
Same sound, different letters: carb vs cob
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Homophone desk: carb vs cob
This is the hard kind. carb and cob are pronounced identically (/kɑːb/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carb is recorded at frequency rank #18,780, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɑːb/. cob is at rank #27,404, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɑb/.
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 46184, this pair ranks #214,150 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of carb vs cob
Shared letters: bc. Private to "carb": ar. Private to "cob": o.
"carb" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cob" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- carb ← acrb · cabr · carbb · carrb · ccarb
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "carb" and "cob" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "carb" or "cob"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "carb" / "cob". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "carb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cob" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,150 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carb" and "cob" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs cob". 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 #214,150 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.