Which to use
“demand” is a noun and “depend” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,523
- “demand” frequency rank
- #5,119
- “depend” frequency rank
- 6642
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demand | depend |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The desire to purchase goods and services. | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
Where the eye mixes demand and depend
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between demand and depend
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demand is /dɪˈmɑːnd/ while depend is /dɪˈpɛnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
demand is recorded at frequency rank #1,523, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈmɑːnd/. depend is at rank #5,119, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɛnd/.
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 6642, this pair ranks #510,600 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of demand vs depend
Shared letters: den. Private to "demand": am. Private to "depend": p.
"demand" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "depend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "demand" for "depend" ever safe?
Frequency check: "demand" vs "depend" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "demand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depend" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #510,600 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demand" and "depend" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demand vs demean". 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 #510,600 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.