Which to use
“sleeper” and “sleeps” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,911
- “sleeper” frequency rank
- #11,119
- “sleeps” frequency rank
- 27030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sleeper | sleeps |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Someone who sleeps. | plural of sleep |
Where the eye mixes sleeper and sleeps
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sleeper vs sleeps
A purely visual mix-up. sleeper (/ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/) and sleeps (/sliːps/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sleeper is recorded at frequency rank #15,911, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsliːpə(ɹ)/. sleeps is at rank #11,119, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sliːps/.
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 27030, this pair ranks #382,174 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sleeper vs sleeps
Shared letters: elps. Private to "sleeper": r. Private to "sleeps": -.
"sleeper" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "sleeps" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sleeper" and "sleeps" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "sleeper" or "sleeps" 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 "sleeper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sleeps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,174 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sleeper" and "sleeps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sleeper vs sweeper". 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 #382,174 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.