Which to use
“dope” and “dose” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,275
- “dope” frequency rank
- #5,124
- “dose” frequency rank
- 13399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dope | dose |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any viscous liquid or paste, such as a lubricant, used in preparing a surface. | A measured portion of medicine taken at any one time. |
Where the eye mixes dope and dose
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. dope ([dəʊp]) and dose (/dəʊs/) 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 a single letter - p in “dope” becomes s in “dose”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dope is recorded at frequency rank #8,275, classified as anoun, pronounced [dəʊp]. dose is at rank #5,124, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dəʊs/.
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 13399, this pair ranks #476,047 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dope vs dose
Shared letters: deo. Private to "dope": p. Private to "dose": s.
"dope" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "dose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV