Which to use
“depend” and “depends” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,119
- “depend” frequency rank
- #2,828
- “depends” frequency rank
- 7947
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | depend | depends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition | third-person singular simple present indicative of depend |
Where the eye mixes depend and depends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses depend with depends
A purely visual mix-up. depend (/dɪˈpɛnd/) and depends (/dɪˈpɛndz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “depend” sits inside “depends”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
depend is recorded at frequency rank #5,119, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɛnd/. depends is at rank #2,828, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɛndz/.
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 7947, this pair ranks #504,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of depend vs depends
Shared letters: denp. Private to "depend": -. Private to "depends": s.
"depend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "depends" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "depend" for "depends" ever safe?
Frequency check: "depend" vs "depends" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "depend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "depends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #504,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "depend" and "depends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depend vs doped". 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 #504,828 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.