Which to use
“notch” and “notice” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,926
- “notch” frequency rank
- #1,347
- “notice” frequency rank
- 11273
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | notch | notice |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A V-shaped cut. | The act of observing; perception. |
Where the eye mixes notch and notice
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. notch runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against notice's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: notch vs notice
A purely visual mix-up. notch (/nɒtʃ/) and notice (/ˈnəʊ.tɪs/) 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 11273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
notch is recorded at frequency rank #9,926, classified as anoun, pronounced /nɒtʃ/. notice is at rank #1,347, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈnəʊ.tɪs/.
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 11273, this pair ranks #487,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of notch vs notice
Shared letters: cnot. Private to "notch": h. Private to "notice": ei.
"notch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "notice" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "notch" and "notice" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "notch" or "notice"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "notch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "notice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #487,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "notch" and "notice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Noh vs notch". 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 #487,934 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.