Which to use
“coax” is a verb and “cond” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,368
- “coax” frequency rank
- #44,131
- “cond” frequency rank
- 74499
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coax | cond |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To fondle, kid, pet, tease. | Clipping of conditional. |
Where the eye mixes coax and cond
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between coax and cond
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: coax is /kəʊks/ while cond is /kɒnd/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coax is recorded at frequency rank #30,368, classified as averb, pronounced /kəʊks/. cond is at rank #44,131, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɒnd/.
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 74499, this pair ranks #36,169 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of coax vs cond
Shared letters: co. Private to "coax": ax. Private to "cond": dn.
"coax" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cond" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "coax" for "cond" ever safe?
Frequency check: "coax" vs "cond" - 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 "coax" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cond" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,169 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coax" and "cond" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cond vs cuny". 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 #36,169 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.