Which to use
“joke” and “joker” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,117
- “joke” frequency rank
- #10,567
- “joker” frequency rank
- 12684
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joke | joker |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An amusing story. | A person who makes jokes. |
Where the eye mixes joke and joker
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. joke (/d͡ʒəʊk/) and joker (/ˈd͡ʒəʊkə/) 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 extra letter(s) - “joke” sits inside “joker”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
joke is recorded at frequency rank #2,117, classified as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒəʊk/. joker is at rank #10,567, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈd͡ʒəʊkə/.
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 12684, this pair ranks #480,131 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of joke vs joker
Shared letters: ejko. Private to "joke": -. Private to "joker": r.
"joke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "joker" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC