Which to use
“termite” and “termites” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,200
- “termite” frequency rank
- #31,001
- “termites” frequency rank
- 69201
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | termite | termites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A white-bodied, wood-consuming insect of the infraorder Isoptera, in the order Blattodea. | plural of termite |
Where the eye mixes termite and termites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between termite and termites
A purely visual mix-up. termite (/ˈtɜː(ɹ).maɪt/) and termites (/ˈtɜːmaɪts/) 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) - “termite” sits inside “termites”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
termite is recorded at frequency rank #38,200, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɜː(ɹ).maɪt/. termites is at rank #31,001, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɜːmaɪts/.
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 69201, this pair ranks #55,561 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of termite vs termites
Shared letters: eimrt. Private to "termite": -. Private to "termites": s.
"termite" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "termites" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "termite" and "termites" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "termite" or "termites"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "termite" and "termites" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "termite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "termites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,561 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "termite" and "termites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "termite vs trite". 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 #55,561 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.