membersvsmemoirsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“members” and “memoirs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#445
“members” frequency rank
#13,381
“memoirs” frequency rank
13826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature members memoirs
Definition plural of member plural of memoir

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set members and memoirs apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
members
7 ch
memoirs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. members (/ˈmɛmbəz/) and memoirs (/ˈmɛmˌwɑɹz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

members is recorded at frequency rank #445, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛmbəz/. memoirs is at rank #13,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛmˌwɑɹz/.

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 13826, this pair ranks #473,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of members vs memoirs

Shared letters: emrs. Private to "members": b. Private to "memoirs": io.

"members" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "memoirs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • membersemmbers · mebmers · membbers · memberrs · memberss · membesr · membres · memebrs
  • memoirsemmoirs · memiors · memmoirs · memoirrs · memoirss · memoisr · memoris · meomirs

Frequency comparison

members#445
memoirs#13,381

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "members" and "memoirs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɛmbəz/ versus /ˈmɛmˌwɑɹz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "members" or "memoirs"?
"members" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #445 in our English list, against #13,381 for "memoirs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering members vs memoirs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “members” 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