deathsvsdepthConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,827
“deaths” frequency rank
#2,725
“depth” frequency rank
5552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deaths depth
Definition plural of death the vertical distance below a surface; the degree to which something is deep

Where the eye mixes deaths and depth

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

6 ch
deaths
5 ch
depth

Why the eye confuses deaths with depth

A purely visual mix-up. deaths (/dɛθs/) and depth (/dɛpθ/) 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 5552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deaths is recorded at frequency rank #2,827, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛθs/. depth is at rank #2,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛpθ/.

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 5552, this pair ranks #514,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deaths vs depth

Shared letters: deht. Private to "deaths": as. Private to "depth": p.

"deaths" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "depth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deathsdaeths · ddeaths · deahts · deathhs · deathss · deatsh · deatths · detahs
  • depthddepth · depht · deppth · depthh · deptth · detph · dpeth · edpth

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deaths" and "depth" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɛθs/ versus /dɛpθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "deaths" or "depth"?
"depth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,725 in our English list, against #2,827 for "deaths". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "deaths" and "depth" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deaths" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "depth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #514,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deaths" and "depth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deaths vs dents". 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 #514,903 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list