copiesvscopingConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,419
“copies” frequency rank
#11,189
“coping” frequency rank
14608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature copies coping
Definition plural of copy The top layer of a brick wall, especially one that slopes in order to throw off water.

Letter map: copies vs coping

Shared letters muted; letters that set copies and coping apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
copies
6 ch
coping

Spelling & dictionary notes on copies vs coping

copies and coping are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

copies is recorded at frequency rank #3,419, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɑpiz/. coping is at rank #11,189, tagged as anoun.

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 14608, this pair ranks #468,998 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of copies vs coping

Shared letters: ciop. Private to "copies": es. Private to "coping": gn.

"copies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "coping" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • copiesccopies · coipes · copeis · copiess · copise · coppies · cpoies · ocpies
  • copingccoping · coipng · copign · copingg · copinng · copnig · copping · cpoing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "copies" for "coping" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "copies" or "coping" show up more?
"copies" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,419 in our English list, against #11,189 for "coping". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "copies" vs "coping" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "copies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coping" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #468,998 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "copies" and "coping" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coining vs coping". 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 #468,998 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