jadevsjawsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,909
“jade” frequency rank
#13,742
“jaws” frequency rank
23651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jade jaws
Definition A semiprecious stone, either nephrite or jadeite, generally green or white in color, often used for carving figurines. plural of jaw

Where the eye mixes jade and jaws

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
jade
4 ch
jaws

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. jade (/d͡ʒeɪd/) and jaws (/d͡ʒɔːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jade is recorded at frequency rank #9,909, classified as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒeɪd/. jaws is at rank #13,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒɔːz/.

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 23651, this pair ranks #407,756 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jade vs jaws

Shared letters: aj. Private to "jade": de. Private to "jaws": sw.

"jade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "jaws" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jadeajde · jadde · jaed · jdae · jjade
  • jawsajws · jasw · jawss · jawws · jjaws · jwas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jade" and "jaws" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/d͡ʒeɪd/ versus /d͡ʒɔːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "jade" or "jaws"?
"jade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,909 in our English list, against #13,742 for "jaws". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list