Which to use
“desire” is a verb and “desires” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,436
- “desire” frequency rank
- #7,006
- “desires” frequency rank
- 9442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desire | desires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To want; to wish for earnestly. | plural of desire |
Where the eye mixes desire and desires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. desire runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against desires's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between desire and desires
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desire is /dɪˈzaɪə/ while desires is /dɪˈzaɪəz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “desire” sits inside “desires”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desire is recorded at frequency rank #2,436, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈzaɪə/. desires is at rank #7,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈzaɪəz/.
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 9442, this pair ranks #497,369 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of desire vs desires
Shared letters: deirs. Private to "desire": -. Private to "desires": -.
"desire" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "desires" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "desire" for "desires" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "desire" or "desires" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "desire" and "desires" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "desire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #497,369 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desire" and "desires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demure vs desire". 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 #497,369 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.