Which to use
“dikes” and “dishes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,870
- “dikes” frequency rank
- #5,783
- “dishes” frequency rank
- 55653
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dikes | dishes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dike | plural of dish |
Letter map: dikes vs dishes
Shared letters muted; letters that set dikes and dishes apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. dikes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against dishes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Corpus notes: dikes and dishes
dikes and dishes are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dikes is recorded at frequency rank #49,870, classified as anoun. dishes is at rank #5,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɪʃɪz/.
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 55653, this pair ranks #132,013 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dikes vs dishes
Shared letters: deis. Private to "dikes": k. Private to "dishes": h.
"dikes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dishes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dikes" and "dishes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dikes" vs "dishes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "dikes" and "dishes". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "dikes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dishes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #132,013 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dikes" and "dishes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dikes 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 #132,013 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.