Which to use
“potable” is an adjective and “pothole” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,887
- “potable” frequency rank
- #41,316
- “pothole” frequency rank
- 77203
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | potable | pothole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Good for drinking without fear of waterborne disease or poisoning. | A shallow pit or other edged depression in a road's surface, especially when caused by erosion by weather or traffic. |
Letter map: potable vs pothole
Shared letters muted; letters that set potable and pothole apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - potable and pothole
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: potable is anadjective and potholeanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
potable is recorded at frequency rank #35,887, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpəʊtəbəl/. pothole is at rank #41,316, tagged as anoun.
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 77203, this pair ranks #27,896 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of potable vs pothole
Shared letters: elopt. Private to "potable": ab. Private to "pothole": h.
"potable" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "pothole" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "potable" and "pothole" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "potable" or "pothole"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "potable" and "pothole".
- Full dictionary entry for "potable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pothole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,896 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "potable" and "pothole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pliable vs potable". 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 #27,896 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.