Which to use
“makes” is a verb and “mates” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #330
- “makes” frequency rank
- #7,248
- “mates” frequency rank
- 7578
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | makes | mates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of make | plural of mate |
Where the eye mixes makes and mates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: makes is /meɪks/ while mates is /meɪts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “makes” becomes t in “mates”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
makes is recorded at frequency rank #330, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪks/. mates is at rank #7,248, tagged as anoun, pronounced /meɪts/.
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 7578, this pair ranks #506,503 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of makes vs mates
Shared letters: aems. Private to "makes": k. Private to "mates": t.
"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC