Which to use
“dares” and “dates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,771
- “dares” frequency rank
- #2,783
- “dates” frequency rank
- 24554
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dares | dates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dare | plural of date |
Where the eye mixes dares and dates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dares with dates
A purely visual mix-up. dares (/dɛəz/) and dates (/deɪts/) 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 - r in “dares” becomes t in “dates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dares is recorded at frequency rank #21,771, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛəz/. dates is at rank #2,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced /deɪts/.
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 24554, this pair ranks #401,096 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dares vs dates
Shared letters: ades. Private to "dares": r. Private to "dates": t.
"dares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dares" for "dates" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "dares" or "dates" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "dares" and "dates" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,096 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dares" and "dates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dares 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 #401,096 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.