Which to use
“deposit” and “deposits” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,750
- “deposit” frequency rank
- #7,120
- “deposits” frequency rank
- 11870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deposit | deposits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sediment or rock that is not native to its present location or is different from the surrounding material. Sometimes refers to ore or gems. | plural of deposit |
Where the eye mixes deposit and deposits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. deposit runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against deposits's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses deposit with deposits
A purely visual mix-up. deposit (/dɪˈpɒz.ɪt/) and deposits (/dɪˈpɑzɪts/) 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) - “deposit” sits inside “deposits”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deposit is recorded at frequency rank #4,750, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈpɒz.ɪt/. deposits is at rank #7,120, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈpɑzɪts/.
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 11870, this pair ranks #484,679 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deposit vs deposits
Shared letters: deiopst. Private to "deposit": -. Private to "deposits": -.
"deposit" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "deposits" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deposit" for "deposits" ever safe?
Frequency check: "deposit" vs "deposits" - 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 "deposit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deposits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,679 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deposit" and "deposits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depose vs deposit". 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 #484,679 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.