Which to use
“Dalek” and “dales” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,675
- “Dalek” frequency rank
- #36,098
- “dales” frequency rank
- 71773
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dalek | dales |
|---|---|---|
| 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 dale |
Where the eye mixes Dalek and dales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Dalek and dales follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between Dalek and dales
A purely visual mix-up. Dalek (/ˈdɑːlɛk/) and dales (/deɪlz/) 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 a single letter - k in “Dalek” becomes s in “dales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71773, 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/. dales is at rank #36,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪlz/.
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 71773, this pair ranks #45,455 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Dalek vs dales
Shared letters: adel. Private to "Dalek": k. Private to "dales": s.
"Dalek" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dales" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Dalek" and "dales" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "Dalek" or "dales" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Dalek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,455 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Dalek" and "dales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dales vs dikes". 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 #45,455 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.