Which to use
“snipe” and “snipes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,648
- “snipe” frequency rank
- #45,091
- “snipes” frequency rank
- 72739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | snipe | snipes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of various limicoline game birds of the genera Gallinago, Lymnocryptes and Coenocorypha in the family Scolopacidae, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak. | plural of snipe |
Where the eye mixes snipe and snipes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses snipe with snipes
A purely visual mix-up. snipe (/snaɪp/) and snipes (/snaɪps/) 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) - “snipe” sits inside “snipes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
snipe is recorded at frequency rank #27,648, classified as anoun, pronounced /snaɪp/. snipes is at rank #45,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced /snaɪps/.
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 72739, this pair ranks #42,026 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of snipe vs snipes
Shared letters: einps. Private to "snipe": -. Private to "snipes": -.
"snipe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "snipes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "snipe" and "snipes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "snipe" or "snipes" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "snipe" and "snipes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "snipe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "snipes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,026 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "snipe" and "snipes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "snide vs snipes". 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 #42,026 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.