collievscommieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“collie” and “commie” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,603
“collie” frequency rank
#31,924
“commie” frequency rank
61527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature collie commie
Definition Any of various breeds of dog originating in Scotland and England as sheepdogs A communist; a person with communist sympathies; a supposed communist infiltrator.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set collie and commie apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
collie
6 ch
commie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. collie (/ˈkɒli/) and commie (/ˈkɒ.mi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

collie is recorded at frequency rank #29,603, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒli/. commie is at rank #31,924, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɒ.mi/.

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 61527, this pair ranks #93,748 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of collie vs commie

Shared letters: ceio. Private to "collie": l. Private to "commie": m.

"collie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "commie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • collieccollie · clolie · colie · colile · collei · ocllie
  • commieccommie · cmomie · comie · comime · commei · ocmmie

Frequency comparison

collie#29,603
commie#31,924

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "collie" and "commie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɒli/ versus /ˈkɒ.mi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "collie" or "commie"?
"collie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,603 in our English list, against #31,924 for "commie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering collie vs commie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “collie” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list