Which to use
“nape” and “narc” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,953
- “nape” frequency rank
- #46,645
- “narc” frequency rank
- 91598
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nape | narc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The back part of the neck. | A police officer or federal agent assigned to or engaging in illegal narcotics control. |
Where the eye mixes nape and narc
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nape (CVCV) and narc (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses nape with narc
A purely visual mix-up. nape (/neɪp/) and narc (/ˈnɑːk/) 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 91598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nape is recorded at frequency rank #44,953, classified as anoun, pronounced /neɪp/. narc is at rank #46,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈnɑːk/.
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 91598, this pair ranks #3,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nape vs narc
Shared letters: an. Private to "nape": ep. Private to "narc": cr.
"nape" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "narc" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nape" and "narc" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "nape" or "narc" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "nape" and "narc" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "narc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nape" and "narc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "narc vs narco". 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 #3,171 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.