Which to use
“measles” and “measures” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,887
- “measles” frequency rank
- #2,165
- “measures” frequency rank
- 21052
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | measles | measures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An acute and highly contagious disease which often afflicts children caused by the virus Measles morbillivirus and causing red rashes, fever, runny nose, coughing, and red eyes. | plural of measure |
Where the eye mixes measles and measures
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. measles runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against measures's 8 (CVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between measles and measures
A purely visual mix-up. measles (/ˈmizəlz/) and measures (/ˈmɛʒɚz/) 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 21052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
measles is recorded at frequency rank #18,887, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmizəlz/. measures is at rank #2,165, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛʒɚz/.
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 21052, this pair ranks #426,759 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of measles vs measures
Shared letters: aems. Private to "measles": l. Private to "measures": ru.
"measles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "measures" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "measles" and "measures" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "measles" or "measures"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "measles" and "measures" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "measles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "measures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,759 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "measles" and "measures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "measles vs measly". 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 #426,759 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.