Which to use
“circuit” and “circus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,154
- “circuit” frequency rank
- #7,319
- “circus” frequency rank
- 10473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | circuit | circus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of moving or revolving around, or as in a circle or orbit; a revolution | A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. |
Where the eye mixes circuit and circus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between circuit and circus
A purely visual mix-up. circuit (/ˈsɜː.kɪt/) and circus (/ˈsɜːkəs/) 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 10473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
circuit is recorded at frequency rank #3,154, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɜː.kɪt/. circus is at rank #7,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɜːkəs/.
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 10473, this pair ranks #492,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of circuit vs circus
Shared letters: ciru. Private to "circuit": t. Private to "circus": s.
"circuit" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "circus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "circuit" and "circus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "circuit" vs "circus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "circuit" and "circus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "circuit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "circus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #492,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "circuit" and "circus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "circus vs cirrus". 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 #492,153 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.