Which to use
“reserved” is a verb and “reserves” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,352
- “reserved” frequency rank
- #4,977
- “reserves” frequency rank
- 10329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reserved | reserves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of reserve | plural of reserve |
Where the eye mixes reserved and reserves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. reserved and reserves follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: reserved vs reserves
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reserved is /ɹɪˈzɝvd/ while reserves is /ɹɪˈzɝvz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “reserved” becomes s in “reserves”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reserved is recorded at frequency rank #5,352, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈzɝvd/. 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 10329, this pair ranks #492,880 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reserved vs reserves
Shared letters: ersv. Private to "reserved": d. Private to "reserves": -.
"reserved" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "reserves" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reserved" for "reserves" ever safe?
Frequency check: "reserved" vs "reserves" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "reserved" 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 #492,880 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reserved" and "reserves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reserved vs reverted". 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 #492,880 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.