jarsvsjobsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,056
“jars” frequency rank
#1,122
“jobs” frequency rank
17178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jars jobs
Definition plural of jar plural of job

Where the eye mixes jars and jobs

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

4 ch
jars
4 ch
jobs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. jars (/d͡ʒɑɹz/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jars is recorded at frequency rank #16,056, classified as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒɑɹz/. 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 17178, this pair ranks #453,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jars vs jobs

Shared letters: js. Private to "jars": ar. Private to "jobs": bo.

"jars" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "jobs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jarsajrs · jarrs · jarss · jasr · jjars · jras
  • jobsjbos · jjobs · jobbs · jobss · josb · ojbs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jars" and "jobs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/d͡ʒɑɹz/ versus /d͡ʒɑbz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "jars" or "jobs"?
"jobs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,122 in our English list, against #16,056 for "jars". 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