Which to use
“depress” and “digress” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,464
- “depress” frequency rank
- #38,804
- “digress” frequency rank
- 73268
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | depress | digress |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To press down. | To step or turn aside; to deviate; to swerve; especially, to turn aside from the main subject of attention, or course of argument, in writing or speaking. |
Where the eye mixes depress and digress
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses depress with digress
A purely visual mix-up. depress (/dɪˈpɹɛs/) and digress (/daɪˈɡɹɛs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
depress is recorded at frequency rank #34,464, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɹɛs/. digress is at rank #38,804, tagged as averb, pronounced /daɪˈɡɹɛs/.
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 73268, this pair ranks #40,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of depress vs digress
Shared letters: ders. Private to "depress": p. Private to "digress": gi.
"depress" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "digress" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "depress" and "digress" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "depress" vs "digress" - 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 "depress" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "digress" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "depress" and "digress" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "digress vs duress". 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 #40,184 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.