Which to use
“corps” and “corpse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,517
- “corps” frequency rank
- #10,184
- “corpse” frequency rank
- 14701
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | corps | corpse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A battlefield formation composed of two or more divisions. | A dead body, especially that of a human as opposed to an animal. |
Where the eye mixes corps and corpse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses corps with corpse
A purely visual mix-up. corps (/kɔː/) and corpse (/kɔːps/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “corps” sits inside “corpse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
corps is recorded at frequency rank #4,517, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔː/. corpse is at rank #10,184, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔːps/.
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 14701, this pair ranks #468,475 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of corps vs corpse
Shared letters: coprs. Private to "corps": -. Private to "corpse": e.
"corps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "corpse" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "corps" and "corpse" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "corps" or "corpse" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "corps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corpse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #468,475 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "corps" and "corpse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coms vs corps". 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 #468,475 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.