Which to use
“drunks” and “dunks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,526
- “drunks” frequency rank
- #36,968
- “dunks” frequency rank
- 68494
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drunks | dunks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of drunk | plural of dunk |
Where the eye mixes drunks and dunks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between drunks and dunks
A purely visual mix-up. drunks (/dɹʌŋks/) and dunks (/dʌŋks/) 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 68494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drunks is recorded at frequency rank #31,526, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɹʌŋks/. dunks is at rank #36,968, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dʌŋks/.
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 68494, this pair ranks #58,638 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of drunks vs dunks
Shared letters: dknsu. Private to "drunks": r. Private to "dunks": -.
"drunks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "dunks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "drunks" and "dunks" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "drunks" vs "dunks" - 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 "drunks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dunks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,638 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drunks" and "dunks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dinky vs dunks". 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 #58,638 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.