Which to use
“dwell” and “dwells” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,505
- “dwell” frequency rank
- #34,030
- “dwells” frequency rank
- 47535
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dwell | dwells |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state. | plural of dwell |
Where the eye mixes dwell and dwells
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dwell runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against dwells's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dwell with dwells
A purely visual mix-up. dwell (/dwɛl/) and dwells (/dwɛlz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “dwell” sits inside “dwells”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dwell is recorded at frequency rank #13,505, classified as anoun, pronounced /dwɛl/. dwells is at rank #34,030, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dwɛlz/.
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 47535, this pair ranks #201,578 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dwell vs dwells
Shared letters: delw. Private to "dwell": -. Private to "dwells": s.
"dwell" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "dwells" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dwell" and "dwells" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dwell" vs "dwells" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dwell" and "dwells" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dwell" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dwells" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,578 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dwell" and "dwells" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dwells vs dwelt". 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 #201,578 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.