Which to use
“delves” is a verb and “doves” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,077
- “delves” frequency rank
- #25,361
- “doves” frequency rank
- 66438
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delves | doves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of delve | plural of dove |
Where the eye mixes delves and doves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. delves runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against doves's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses delves with doves
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delves is /dɛlvz/ while doves is /dʌvz/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delves is recorded at frequency rank #41,077, classified as averb, pronounced /dɛlvz/. doves is at rank #25,361, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dʌvz/.
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 66438, this pair ranks #67,972 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of delves vs doves
Shared letters: desv. Private to "delves": l. Private to "doves": o.
"delves" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "doves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "delves" and "doves" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "delves" vs "doves" - 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 "delves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,972 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delves" and "doves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delved vs delves". 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 #67,972 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.