Which to use
“drain” and “dram” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,353
- “drain” frequency rank
- #31,148
- “dram” frequency rank
- 37501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drain | dram |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK) | A small unit of weight, variously: |
Where the eye mixes drain and dram
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses drain with dram
A purely visual mix-up. drain (/dɹeɪn/) and dram (/dɹæm/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drain is recorded at frequency rank #6,353, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɹeɪn/. dram is at rank #31,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹæm/.
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 37501, this pair ranks #294,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of drain vs dram
Shared letters: adr. Private to "drain": in. Private to "dram": m.
"drain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "dram" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "drain" and "dram" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "drain" vs "dram" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "drain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dram" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drain" and "dram" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dirac vs dram". 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 #294,023 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.