Which to use
“distract” is a verb and “district” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,023
- “distract” frequency rank
- #967
- “district” frequency rank
- 11990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | distract | district |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To divert the attention of. | An administrative division of an area. |
Where the eye mixes distract and district
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. distract and district follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses distract with district
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: distract is /dɪˈstɹækt/ while district is /ˈdɪstɹɪkt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “distract” becomes i in “district”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
distract is recorded at frequency rank #11,023, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈstɹækt/. district is at rank #967, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɪstɹɪkt/.
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 11990, this pair ranks #484,024 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of distract vs district
Shared letters: cdirst. Private to "distract": a. Private to "district": -.
"distract" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC · "district" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "distract" and "district" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "distract" or "district"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "distract" and "district" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "distract" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "district" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,024 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "distract" and "district" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "destruct vs distract". 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 #484,024 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.