Which to use
“pub” and “pubes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,880
- “pub” frequency rank
- #42,838
- “pubes” frequency rank
- 47718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pub | pubes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A public house where beverages, primarily alcoholic, may be bought and consumed, also providing food and sometimes entertainment such as live music or television. | plural of pubis (“pubic bones”) |
Where the eye mixes pub and pubes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pub vs pubes
A purely visual mix-up. pub (/pʌb/) 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 extra letter(s) - “pub” sits inside “pubes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pub is recorded at frequency rank #4,880, classified as anoun, pronounced /pʌb/. 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 47718, this pair ranks #199,834 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pub vs pubes
Shared letters: bpu. Private to "pub": -. Private to "pubes": es.
"pub" · 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
Do "pub" and "pubes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pub" vs "pubes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pub" 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 #199,834 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pub" 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 #199,834 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.