downsvsdozensTell them apart

Which to use

“downs” and “dozens” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,914
“downs” frequency rank
#5,784
“dozens” frequency rank
13698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature downs dozens
Definition plural of down A verbal game in which two or more people exchange witty insults.

Letter map: downs vs dozens

Shared letters muted; letters that set downs and dozens apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. downs runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against dozens's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
downs
6 ch
dozens

Spelling & dictionary notes on downs vs dozens

downs and dozens are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

downs is recorded at frequency rank #7,914, classified as anoun, pronounced /daʊnz/. dozens is at rank #5,784, tagged as anoun.

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 13698, this pair ranks #474,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of downs vs dozens

Shared letters: dnos. Private to "downs": w. Private to "dozens": ez.

"downs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "dozens" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • downs ← ddowns · donws · downns · downss · dowsn · dowwns · dwons · odwns
  • dozens ← ddozens · doezns · dozenns · dozenss · dozesn · doznes · dozzens · dzoens

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "downs" and "dozens" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "downs" vs "dozens" - which ranks higher?
"dozens" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,784 in our English list, against #7,914 for "downs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "downs" vs "dozens" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "downs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dozens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #474,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "downs" and "dozens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Downie vs downs". 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 #474,314 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list