Which to use
“dashes” is a noun and “dished” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,005
- “dashes” frequency rank
- #46,422
- “dished” frequency rank
- 80427
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dashes | dished |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dash | simple past and past participle of dish |
Where the eye mixes dashes and dished
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dashes and dished
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dashes is /ˈdæʃɪz/ while dished is /dɪʃt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dashes is recorded at frequency rank #34,005, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdæʃɪz/. dished is at rank #46,422, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪʃt/.
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 80427, this pair ranks #19,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dashes vs dished
Shared letters: dehs. Private to "dashes": a. Private to "dished": i.
"dashes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "dished" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dashes" for "dished" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dashes" vs "dished" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dashes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dished" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #19,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dashes" and "dished" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dimmed vs dished". 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 #19,820 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.