Which to use
“Davies” and “Dawes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,905
- “Davies” frequency rank
- #28,506
- “Dawes” frequency rank
- 36411
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Davies | Dawes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A Welsh and English surname originating as a patronymic derived from the given name Davy/Davey/Davie or David. | A surname originating as a patronymic. |
Where the eye mixes Davies and Dawes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Davies runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against Dawes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between Davies and Dawes
A purely visual mix-up. Davies (/ˈdeɪvɪs/) and Dawes (/dɔːz/) 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 36411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Davies is recorded at frequency rank #7,905, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈdeɪvɪs/. Dawes is at rank #28,506, tagged as aname, pronounced /dɔːz/.
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 36411, this pair ranks #303,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Davies vs Dawes
Shared letters: ades. Private to "Davies": iv. Private to "Dawes": w.
"Davies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "Dawes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Davies" and "Dawes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Davies" or "Dawes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Davies" and "Dawes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Davies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Dawes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #303,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Davies" and "Dawes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dawes 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 #303,443 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.