Which to use
“doves” and “dykes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,361
- “doves” frequency rank
- #33,216
- “dykes” frequency rank
- 58577
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doves | dykes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of dove | plural of dyke |
Where the eye mixes doves and dykes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between doves and dykes
A purely visual mix-up. doves (/dʌvz/) and dykes (/daɪks/) 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 58577, 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/. dykes is at rank #33,216, tagged as anoun, pronounced /daɪks/.
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 58577, this pair ranks #111,662 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of doves vs dykes
Shared letters: des. Private to "doves": ov. Private to "dykes": ky.
"doves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "dykes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "doves" and "dykes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "doves" or "dykes" 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 "dykes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,662 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doves" and "dykes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dikes vs dykes". 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 #111,662 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.