Which to use
“Dalek” and “Daleks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,675
- “Dalek” frequency rank
- #30,748
- “Daleks” frequency rank
- 66423
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dalek | Daleks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A member of a species of extraterrestrial cyborg mutants who appear in the television programme Doctor Who and are known for travelling in metallic shells, having monotone, mechanically distorted voices, repeating a limited number of phrases, and their fanatical obsession with exterminating other, non-Dalek beings. | plural of Dalek |
Where the eye mixes Dalek and Daleks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Dalek runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against Daleks's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Dalek and Daleks
A purely visual mix-up. Dalek (/ˈdɑːlɛk/) and Daleks (/ˈdɑːlɛks/) 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) - “Dalek” sits inside “Daleks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Dalek is recorded at frequency rank #35,675, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɑːlɛk/. Daleks is at rank #30,748, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɑːlɛks/.
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 66423, this pair ranks #68,059 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Dalek vs Daleks
Shared letters: adekl. Private to "Dalek": -. Private to "Daleks": s.
"Dalek" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "Daleks" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Dalek" and "Daleks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Dalek" vs "Daleks" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Dalek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Daleks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,059 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Dalek" and "Daleks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dalek vs Dalia". 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 #68,059 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.