Which to use
“pes” and “pubes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,668
- “pes” frequency rank
- #42,838
- “pubes” frequency rank
- 71506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pes | pubes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | the foot of a human | plural of pubis (“pubic bones”) |
Where the eye mixes pes and pubes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pes runs 3 letters (CVC) against pubes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pes with pubes
A purely visual mix-up. pes (/peɪ̯s/) and pubes (/ˈpjuːbiːz/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pes is recorded at frequency rank #28,668, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪ̯s/. pubes is at rank #42,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpjuːbiːz/.
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 71506, this pair ranks #46,434 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pes vs pubes
Shared letters: eps. Private to "pes": -. Private to "pubes": bu.
"pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "pubes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pubes ← pbues · ppubes · pubbes · pubess · pubse · puebs · upbes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pes" for "pubes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pes" or "pubes"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pes" and "pubes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pubes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,434 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pes" and "pubes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plies vs pubes". 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 #46,434 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.