joeyvsjokesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,053
“joey” frequency rank
#4,097
“jokes” frequency rank
12150
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature joey jokes
Definition The immature young of a marsupial, notably a junior kangaroo, but also a young wallaby, koala, etc. plural of joke

Where the eye mixes joey and jokes

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

4 ch
joey
5 ch
jokes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. joey (/ˈd͡ʒoʊ.i/) and jokes (/d͡ʒəʊks/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

joey is recorded at frequency rank #8,053, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈd͡ʒoʊ.i/. jokes is at rank #4,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒəʊks/.

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 12150, this pair ranks #483,162 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of joey vs jokes

Shared letters: ejo. Private to "joey": y. Private to "jokes": ks.

"joey" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "jokes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • joeyjeoy · jjoey · joeyy · joye · ojey
  • jokesjjokes · jkoes · joeks · jokess · jokkes · jokse · ojkes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "joey" and "jokes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈd͡ʒoʊ.i/ versus /d͡ʒəʊks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "joey" or "jokes"?
"jokes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,097 in our English list, against #8,053 for "joey". 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