jabsvsjobsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,691
“jabs” frequency rank
#1,122
“jobs” frequency rank
34813
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jabs jobs
Definition plural of jab plural of job

Where the eye mixes jabs and jobs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
jabs
4 ch
jobs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. jabs (/d͡ʒæbz/) and jobs (/d͡ʒɑbz/) 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 a single letter - a in “jabs” becomes o in “jobs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jabs is recorded at frequency rank #33,691, classified as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒæbz/. jobs is at rank #1,122, tagged as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒɑbz/.

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 34813, this pair ranks #317,456 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of jabs vs jobs

Shared letters: bjs. Private to "jabs": a. Private to "jobs": o.

"jabs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "jobs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jabsajbs · jabbs · jabss · jasb · jbas · jjabs
  • jobsjbos · jjobs · jobbs · jobss · josb · ojbs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jabs" and "jobs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/d͡ʒæbz/ versus /d͡ʒɑbz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "jabs" or "jobs"?
"jobs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,122 in our English list, against #33,691 for "jabs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list