Which to use
“ladies” and “ladle” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,301
- “ladies” frequency rank
- #43,744
- “ladle” frequency rank
- 46045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ladies | ladle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lady | A deep-bowled spoonlike utensil with a long, usually curved, handle. |
Where the eye mixes ladies and ladle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ladies runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against ladle's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ladies with ladle
A purely visual mix-up. ladies (/ˈleɪ.diz/) and ladle (/ˈleɪ.dəl/) 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 46045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ladies is recorded at frequency rank #2,301, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.diz/. ladle is at rank #43,744, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈleɪ.dəl/.
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 46045, this pair ranks #215,524 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ladies vs ladle
Shared letters: adel. Private to "ladies": is. Private to "ladle": -.
"ladies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "ladle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ladies" and "ladle" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ladies" vs "ladle" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ladies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ladle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,524 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ladies" and "ladle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ladle vs Lally". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #215,524 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.