corpsevscorsetWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,184
“corpse” frequency rank
#27,790
“corset” frequency rank
37974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corpse corset
Definition A dead body, especially that of a human as opposed to an animal. A woman's foundation garment, reinforced with stays, that supports the waistline, hips and bust.

Where the eye mixes corpse and corset

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
corpse
6 ch
corset

Why the eye confuses corpse with corset

A purely visual mix-up. corpse (/kɔːps/) and corset (/ˈkɔː(ɹ).sɪt/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corpse is recorded at frequency rank #10,184, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔːps/. corset is at rank #27,790, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔː(ɹ).sɪt/.

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 37974, this pair ranks #289,927 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corpse vs corset

Shared letters: ceors. Private to "corpse": p. Private to "corset": t.

"corpse" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "corset" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corpseccorpse · coprse · corpes · corppse · corpsse · corrpse · corspe · cropse
  • corsetccorset · corest · corrset · corsett · corsset · corste · cosret · croset

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "corpse" for "corset" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɔːps/ versus /ˈkɔː(ɹ).sɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "corpse" or "corset"?
"corpse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,184 in our English list, against #27,790 for "corset". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corpse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corset" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,927 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corpse" and "corset" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corker vs corset". 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 #289,927 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