Which to use
“defense” is a noun and “defuse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,247
- “defense” frequency rank
- #33,609
- “defuse” frequency rank
- 34856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defense | defuse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The action of defending or protecting from attack, danger, or injury. | To remove the fuse from (e.g. a bomb). |
Where the eye mixes defense and defuse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. defense runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against defuse's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses defense with defuse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: defense is /dɪˈfɛns/ while defuse is /diːˈfjuːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defense is recorded at frequency rank #1,247, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈfɛns/. defuse is at rank #33,609, tagged as averb, pronounced /diːˈfjuːz/.
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 34856, this pair ranks #317,040 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of defense vs defuse
Shared letters: defs. Private to "defense": n. Private to "defuse": u.
"defense" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "defuse" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "defense" for "defuse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "defense" or "defuse"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "defense" and "defuse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "defense" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "defuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #317,040 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defense" and "defuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defuse vs demure". 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 #317,040 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.