documentvsdocumentsTell them apart

Quick tell: document is a noun, documents is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“document” is a noun and “documents” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,426
“document” frequency rank
#48,068
“documents” frequency rank
90494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature document documents
Definition Schriftstück, das eine Information oder einen Beleg liefert; Dokument, Urkunde 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs document

Letter map: document vs documents

Shared letters muted; letters that set document and documents apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

8 ch
document
9 ch
documents

Part-of-speech tell for document / documents

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: document is anoun and documentsaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “document” sits inside “documents”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

document is recorded at frequency rank #42,426, classified as anoun, pronounced [dɔ.ky.mɑ̃]. documents is at rank #48,068, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 90494, this pair ranks #46,481 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of document vs documents

Shared letters: cdemnotu. Private to "document": -. Private to "documents": s.

"document" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "documents" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • documentdcoument · ddocument · doccument · docmuent · docuemnt · documennt · documentt · documetn
  • documentsdcouments · ddocuments · doccuments · docmuents · docuemnts · documennts · documenst · documentss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "document" and "documents" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "document" is a noun and "documents" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "document" or "documents"?
"document" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,426 in our German list, against #48,068 for "documents". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "document" and "documents". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "document" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "documents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,481 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "document" and "documents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "documents vs puzzles". 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 #46,481 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list