Which to use
“verse” and “verses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,377
- “verse” frequency rank
- #9,418
- “verses” frequency rank
- 14795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | verse | verses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A poetic form with regular meter and a fixed rhyme scheme. | plural of verse |
Where the eye mixes verse and verses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: verse vs verses
A purely visual mix-up. verse (/ˈvɝs/) and verses (/ˈvɝsɪz/) 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) - “verse” sits inside “verses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
verse is recorded at frequency rank #5,377, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɝs/. verses is at rank #9,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɝsɪz/.
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 14795, this pair ranks #467,901 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of verse vs verses
Shared letters: ersv. Private to "verse": -. Private to "verses": -.
"verse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "verses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "verse" for "verses" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "verse" or "verses" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "verse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "verses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #467,901 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "verse" and "verses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Verna vs verse". 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 #467,901 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.