Which to use
“doves” and “downs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,361
- “doves” frequency rank
- #7,914
- “downs” frequency rank
- 33275
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doves | downs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dove | plural of down |
Where the eye mixes doves and downs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses doves with downs
A purely visual mix-up. doves (/dʌvz/) and downs (/daʊnz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doves is recorded at frequency rank #25,361, classified as anoun, pronounced /dʌvz/. downs is at rank #7,914, tagged as anoun, pronounced /daʊnz/.
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 33275, this pair ranks #330,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of doves vs downs
Shared letters: dos. Private to "doves": ev. Private to "downs": nw.
"doves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "downs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "doves" and "downs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "doves" or "downs" show up more?
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 "doves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "downs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #330,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doves" and "downs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dikes vs doves". 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 #330,873 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.