Which to use
“imagine” is a verb and “imagines” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,272
- “imagine” frequency rank
- #24,475
- “imagines” frequency rank
- 25747
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imagine | imagines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To form a mental image of something; to envision or create something in one's mind. | plural of imago |
Where the eye mixes imagine and imagines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. imagine runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against imagines's 8 (VCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses imagine with imagines
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: imagine is /ɪˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪn/ while imagines is /ɪˈmeɪd͡ʒɪniːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “imagine” sits inside “imagines”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imagine is recorded at frequency rank #1,272, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪˈmæd͡ʒ.ɪn/. imagines is at rank #24,475, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈmeɪd͡ʒɪniːz/.
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 25747, this pair ranks #391,944 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of imagine vs imagines
Shared letters: aegimn. Private to "imagine": -. Private to "imagines": s.
"imagine" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "imagines" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "imagine" and "imagines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "imagine" or "imagines" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "imagine" and "imagines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "imagine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "imagines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,944 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imagine" and "imagines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imagined vs imagines". 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 #391,944 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.