DavidvsDaviesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“David” and “Davies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#763
“David” frequency rank
#7,905
“Davies” frequency rank
8668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature David Davies
Definition A male given name from Hebrew. A Welsh and English surname originating as a patronymic derived from the given name Davy/Davey/Davie or David.

Where the eye mixes David and Davies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
David
6 ch
Davies

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. David (/ˈdeɪvɪd/) and Davies (/ˈdeɪvɪs/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

David is recorded at frequency rank #763, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈdeɪvɪd/. Davies is at rank #7,905, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈdeɪvɪs/.

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 8668, this pair ranks #501,324 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of David vs Davies

Shared letters: adiv. Private to "David": -. Private to "Davies": es.

"David" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Davies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Davidadvid · daivd · davdi · davidd · davvid · ddavid · dvaid
  • Daviesdaives · daveis · daviess · davvies · ddavies · dvaies

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "David" and "Davies" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdeɪvɪd/ versus /ˈdeɪvɪs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "David" or "Davies"?
"David" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #763 in our English list, against #7,905 for "Davies". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list