Which to use
“bird” and “birds” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,499
- “bird” frequency rank
- #29,510
- “birds” frequency rank
- 48009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bird | birds |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vogel | Plural des Substantivs bird |
Where the eye mixes bird and birds
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bird vs birds
A purely visual mix-up. bird ([bɜːd]) and birds ([bɜːdz]) 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) - “bird” sits inside “birds”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bird is recorded at frequency rank #18,499, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɜːd]. birds is at rank #29,510, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɜːdz].
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 48009, this pair ranks #1,264,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bird vs birds
Shared letters: bdir. Private to "bird": -. Private to "birds": s.
"bird" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "birds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bird" and "birds" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "bird" or "birds"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "bird" and "birds" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bird" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "birds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,264,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bird" and "birds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bims vs birds". 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 #1,264,106 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.