comesvscoreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#432
“comes” frequency rank
#1,892
“core” frequency rank
2324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comes core
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of come In general usage, an essential part of a thing surrounded by other essential things.

Where the eye mixes comes and core

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
comes
4 ch
core

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: comes is /kʌmz/ while core is /kɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comes is recorded at frequency rank #432, classified as averb, pronounced /kʌmz/. core is at rank #1,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔː/.

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 2324, this pair ranks #525,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comes vs core

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "comes": ms. Private to "core": r.

"comes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "core" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comesccomes · cmoes · coems · comess · commes · comse · ocmes
  • coreccore · coer · corre · croe · ocre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "comes" and "core" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "comes" is a verb and "core" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "comes" or "core"?
"comes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #432 in our English list, against #1,892 for "core". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list