voicesvsvotesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#3,993
“voices” frequency rank
#2,324
“votes” frequency rank
6317
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature voices votes
Definition plural of voice plural of vote

Where the eye mixes voices and votes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. voices runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against votes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
voices
5 ch
votes

Look-alike desk: voices vs votes

A purely visual mix-up. voices (/ˈvɔɪsɪz/) and votes (/vəʊts/) 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 6317, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

voices is recorded at frequency rank #3,993, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɔɪsɪz/. votes is at rank #2,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vəʊts/.

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 6317, this pair ranks #511,897 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of voices vs votes

Shared letters: eosv. Private to "voices": ci. Private to "votes": t.

"voices" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "votes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voices ← ovices · vioces · vocies · voicces · voicess · voicse · voiecs · vvoices
  • votes ← ovtes · voets · votess · votse · vottes · vtoes · vvotes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "voices" and "votes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvɔɪsɪz/ versus /vəʊts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "voices" or "votes"?
"votes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,324 in our English list, against #3,993 for "voices". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "voices" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "votes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #511,897 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "voices" and "votes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vole vs votes". 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 #511,897 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list