Which to use
“reserve” and “reserves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,496
- “reserve” frequency rank
- #4,977
- “reserves” frequency rank
- 7473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reserve | reserves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A restriction. | plural of reserve |
Where the eye mixes reserve and reserves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. reserve runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against reserves's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between reserve and reserves
A purely visual mix-up. reserve (/ɹɪˈzɝv/) and reserves (/ɹɪˈzɝvz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “reserve” sits inside “reserves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reserve is recorded at frequency rank #2,496, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈzɝv/. reserves is at rank #4,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈzɝvz/.
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 7473, this pair ranks #506,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reserve vs reserves
Shared letters: ersv. Private to "reserve": -. Private to "reserves": -.
"reserve" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "reserves" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "reserve" and "reserves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "reserve" or "reserves" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "reserve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reserves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reserve" and "reserves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reserve vs reverie". 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 #506,953 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.