Which to use
“dregs” and “drops” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,900
- “dregs” frequency rank
- #4,080
- “drops” frequency rank
- 49980
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dregs | drops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The sediment settled at the bottom of a liquid; the lees in a container of unfiltered wine. | plural of drop |
Where the eye mixes dregs and drops
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dregs and drops
A purely visual mix-up. dregs (/dɹɛɡz/) and drops (/dɹɑps/) 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 49980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dregs is recorded at frequency rank #45,900, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɹɛɡz/. drops is at rank #4,080, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹɑps/.
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 49980, this pair ranks #178,455 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dregs vs drops
Shared letters: drs. Private to "dregs": eg. Private to "drops": op.
"dregs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "drops" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dregs" for "drops" ever safe?
Which is more common, "dregs" or "drops"?
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 "dregs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #178,455 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dregs" and "drops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dings vs dregs". 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 #178,455 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.