Which to use
“death” and “dents” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #385
- “death” frequency rank
- #35,681
- “dents” frequency rank
- 36066
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | death | dents |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The cessation of life and all associated processes; the end of an organism's existence as an entity independent from its environment and its return to an inert, nonliving state. | plural of dent |
Where the eye mixes death and dents
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. death (CVVCC) and dents (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses death with dents
A purely visual mix-up. death (/dɛθ/) and dents (/dɛnts/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
death is recorded at frequency rank #385, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛθ/. dents is at rank #35,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛnts/.
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 36066, this pair ranks #306,464 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of death vs dents
Shared letters: det. Private to "death": ah. Private to "dents": ns.
"death" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "dents" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "death" for "dents" ever safe?
Which is more common, "death" or "dents"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "death" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #306,464 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "death" and "dents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dents vs dings". 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 #306,464 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.