Which to use
“dicey” is an adjective and “dimes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,110
- “dicey” frequency rank
- #31,512
- “dimes” frequency rank
- 74622
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dicey | dimes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fraught with danger. | plural of dime |
Where the eye mixes dicey and dimes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dicey (CVCVV) and dimes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses dicey with dimes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dicey is /ˈdaɪsi/ while dimes is /daɪmz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dicey is recorded at frequency rank #43,110, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdaɪsi/. dimes is at rank #31,512, tagged as anoun, pronounced /daɪmz/.
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 74622, this pair ranks #35,773 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dicey vs dimes
Shared letters: dei. Private to "dicey": cy. Private to "dimes": ms.
"dicey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "dimes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dicey" and "dimes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "dicey" or "dimes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dicey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,773 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dicey" and "dimes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dicey vs dimer". 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 #35,773 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.