connvscopsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,576
“conn” frequency rank
#3,476
“cops” frequency rank
21052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conn cops
Definition The duty of directing a ship, usually used with the verb to have or to take and accompanied by the article "the." plural of cop

Where the eye mixes conn and cops

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
conn
4 ch
cops

Look-alike desk: conn vs cops

A purely visual mix-up. conn (/kɑn/) and cops (/kɒps/) 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 21052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conn is recorded at frequency rank #17,576, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɑn/. cops is at rank #3,476, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɒps/.

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 21052, this pair ranks #426,759 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of conn vs cops

Shared letters: co. Private to "conn": n. Private to "cops": ps.

"conn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conncconn · cnon · ocnn
  • copsccops · copps · copss · cosp · cpos · ocps

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "conn" and "cops" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɑn/ versus /kɒps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "conn" or "cops"?
"cops" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,476 in our English list, against #17,576 for "conn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "conn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #426,759 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conn" and "cops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conn 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 #426,759 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list