gladevsgladesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“glade” and “glades” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,941
“glade” frequency rank
#45,399
“glades” frequency rank
83340
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature glade glades
Definition An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. plural of glade

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set glade and glades apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
glade
6 ch
glades

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. glade (/ɡleɪd/) and glades (/ɡleɪdz/) 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) - “glade” sits inside “glades”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

glade is recorded at frequency rank #37,941, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡleɪd/. glades is at rank #45,399, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡleɪdz/.

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 83340, this pair ranks #14,009 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of glade vs glades

Shared letters: adegl. Private to "glade": -. Private to "glades": s.

"glade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "glades" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gladegalde · gglade · gladde · glaed · gldae · gllade · lgade
  • gladesgaldes · gglades · gladdes · gladess · gladse · glaeds · gldaes · gllades

Frequency comparison

glade#37,941
glades#45,399

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "glade" and "glades" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡleɪd/ versus /ɡleɪdz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "glade" or "glades"?
"glade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,941 in our English list, against #45,399 for "glades". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering glade vs glades

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “glade” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list