restvsrushWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“rest” and “rush” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#594
“rest” frequency rank
#3,133
“rush” frequency rank
3727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rest rush
Definition Relief from work or activity by sleeping; sleep. A sudden forward motion.

Where the eye mixes rest and rush

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
rest
4 ch
rush

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rest (/ɹɛst/) and rush (/ɹʌʃ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rest is recorded at frequency rank #594, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɛst/. rush is at rank #3,133, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹʌʃ/.

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 3727, this pair ranks #521,185 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rest vs rush

Shared letters: rs. Private to "rest": et. Private to "rush": hu.

"rest" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "rush" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • resterst · resst · restt · rets · rrest · rset
  • rushrrush · rsuh · ruhs · rushh · russh · ursh

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rest" and "rush" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɛst/ versus /ɹʌʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rest" or "rush"?
"rest" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #594 in our English list, against #3,133 for "rush". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "rest" and "rush". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rest" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rush" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #521,185 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rest" and "rush" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rua vs rush". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list