Which to use
“defence” and “defender” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,940
- “defence” frequency rank
- #5,954
- “defender” frequency rank
- 8894
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defence | defender |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The action of defending, of protecting from attack, danger or injury. | Someone who defends people or property. |
Where the eye mixes defence and defender
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. defence runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against defender's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses defence with defender
A purely visual mix-up. defence (/dɪˈfɛns/) and defender (/dɪˈfɛndə(ɹ)/) 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 8894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defence is recorded at frequency rank #2,940, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈfɛns/. defender is at rank #5,954, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈfɛndə(ɹ)/.
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 8894, this pair ranks #500,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of defence vs defender
Shared letters: defn. Private to "defence": c. Private to "defender": r.
"defence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "defender" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "defence" and "defender" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "defence" vs "defender" - 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 "defence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "defender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #500,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defence" and "defender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defence vs deference". 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 #500,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.