Which to use
“describe” and “describes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,671
- “describe” frequency rank
- #3,619
- “describes” frequency rank
- 6290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | describe | describes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To represent in words. | third-person singular simple present indicative of describe |
Where the eye mixes describe and describes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. describe (/dɪˈskɹaɪb/) and describes (/dəˈskɹaɪbz/) 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) - “describe” sits inside “describes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
describe is recorded at frequency rank #2,671, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈskɹaɪb/. describes is at rank #3,619, tagged as averb, pronounced /dəˈskɹaɪbz/.
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 6290, this pair ranks #512,016 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of describe vs describes
Shared letters: bcdeirs. Private to "describe": -. Private to "describes": -.
"describe" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV · "describes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC