Which to use
“death” and “depths” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #385
- “death” frequency rank
- #9,873
- “depths” frequency rank
- 10258
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | death | depths |
|---|---|---|
| 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 depth |
Where the eye mixes death and depths
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. death runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against depths's 6 (CVCCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: death vs depths
A purely visual mix-up. death (/dɛθ/) and depths (/dɛpθs/) 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 10258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
death is recorded at frequency rank #385, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛθ/. depths is at rank #9,873, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛpθs/.
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 10258, this pair ranks #493,217 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of death vs depths
Shared letters: deht. Private to "death": a. Private to "depths": ps.
"death" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "depths" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "death" and "depths" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "death" vs "depths" - 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 "death" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depths" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #493,217 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "death" and "depths" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dents vs depths". 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 #493,217 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.