lopevslopesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lope is a verb, lopes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lope” is a verb and “lopes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,466
“lope” frequency rank
#44,310
“lopes” frequency rank
93776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lope lopes
Definition To travel an easy pace with long strides. plural of lope

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lope and lopes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
lope
5 ch
lopes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lope is /ləʊp/ while lopes is /loʊps/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “lope” sits inside “lopes”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lope is recorded at frequency rank #49,466, classified as averb, pronounced /ləʊp/. lopes is at rank #44,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced /loʊps/.

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 93776, this pair ranks #1,716 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lope vs lopes

Shared letters: elop. Private to "lope": -. Private to "lopes": s.

"lope" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lopes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lopellope · loep · loppe · lpoe · olpe
  • lopesllopes · loeps · lopess · loppes · lopse · lpoes · olpes

Frequency comparison

lope#49,466
lopes#44,310

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lope" and "lopes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lope" is a verb and "lopes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lope" or "lopes"?
"lopes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,310 in our English list, against #49,466 for "lope". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lope vs lopes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “lope”; for a noun, it's “lopes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “lope” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list