Which to use
“dishes” and “dives” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,783
- “dishes” frequency rank
- #19,580
- “dives” frequency rank
- 25363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dishes | dives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dish | plural of dive |
Where the eye mixes dishes and dives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dishes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against dives's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dishes and dives
A purely visual mix-up. dishes (/ˈdɪʃɪz/) and dives (/ˈdaɪvz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dishes is recorded at frequency rank #5,783, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɪʃɪz/. dives is at rank #19,580, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdaɪvz/.
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 25363, this pair ranks #394,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dishes vs dives
Shared letters: deis. Private to "dishes": h. Private to "dives": v.
"dishes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "dives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dishes" for "dives" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dishes" vs "dives" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dishes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dishes" and "dives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dimer vs dives". 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 #394,868 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.