Which to use
“mistake” is a verb and “mistakes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,166
- “mistake” frequency rank
- #3,316
- “mistakes” frequency rank
- 5482
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mistake | mistakes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To understand wrongly, taking one thing or person for another. | plural of mistake |
Where the eye mixes mistake and mistakes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. mistake runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against mistakes's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses mistake with mistakes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mistake is /mɪˈsteɪk/ while mistakes is /mɪˈsteɪks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mistake” sits inside “mistakes”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mistake is recorded at frequency rank #2,166, classified as averb, pronounced /mɪˈsteɪk/. mistakes is at rank #3,316, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɪˈsteɪks/.
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 5482, this pair ranks #515,172 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mistake vs mistakes
Shared letters: aeikmst. Private to "mistake": -. Private to "mistakes": -.
"mistake" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "mistakes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mistake" and "mistakes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "mistake" or "mistakes" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mistake" and "mistakes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mistake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mistakes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #515,172 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mistake" and "mistakes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mistake vs mixtape". 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 #515,172 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.