Which to use
“Yeats” is a name and “yes” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,255
- “Yeats” frequency rank
- #301
- “yes” frequency rank
- 32556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Yeats | yes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname. | Used to show agreement or acceptance. |
Where the eye mixes Yeats and yes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Yeats runs 5 letters (VVVCC) against yes's 3 (VVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Yeats with yes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Yeats is /jeɪts/ while yes is /jɛs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Yeats is recorded at frequency rank #32,255, classified as aname, pronounced /jeɪts/. yes is at rank #301, tagged as aparticle, pronounced /jɛs/.
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 32556, this pair ranks #336,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Yeats vs yes
Shared letters: esy. Private to "Yeats": at. Private to "yes": -.
"Yeats" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC · "yes" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Yeats ← eyats · yeatss · yeatts · yetas · yyeats
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Yeats" for "yes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Yeats" or "yes"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Yeats" and "yes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Yeats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "yes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Yeats" and "yes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yat vs Yeats". 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 #336,793 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.