Which to use
“drain” and “drape” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,353
- “drain” frequency rank
- #39,786
- “drape” frequency rank
- 46139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drain | drape |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK) | A curtain; a drapery. |
Where the eye mixes drain and drape
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between drain and drape
A purely visual mix-up. drain (/dɹeɪn/) and drape (/dɹeɪp/) 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 46139, 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/. drape is at rank #39,786, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹeɪp/.
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 46139, this pair ranks #214,577 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of drain vs drape
Shared letters: adr. Private to "drain": in. Private to "drape": ep.
"drain" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "drape" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "drain" and "drape" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "drain" vs "drape" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "drain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drape" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,577 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drain" and "drape" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drape vs Druze". 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 #214,577 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.