Which to use
“dares” and “dikes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,771
- “dares” frequency rank
- #49,870
- “dikes” frequency rank
- 71641
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dares | dikes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dare | plural of dike |
Letter map: dares vs dikes
Shared letters muted; letters that set dares and dikes apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. dares and dikes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Corpus notes: dares and dikes
dares and dikes are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71641, 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/. dikes is at rank #49,870, tagged as anoun.
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 71641, this pair ranks #45,974 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dares vs dikes
Shared letters: des. Private to "dares": ar. Private to "dikes": ik.
"dares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dikes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dares" and "dikes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dares" vs "dikes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "dares" and "dikes". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "dares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dikes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,974 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dares" and "dikes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dikes vs dimer". 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 #45,974 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.