NGO vs NGOs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“NGO” is an abbrev and “NGOs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,644
“NGO” frequency rank: #23,250
“NGOs” frequency rank: 46894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	NGO	NGOs
Definition	in den unterschiedlichsten zivilgesellschaftlichen Bereichen tätige regierungsunabhängige Organisation	Nominativ Plural des Substantivs NGO

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set NGO and NGOs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

NGO

4 ch

NGOs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: NGO is [ˌɛnd͡ʒiˈʔoʊ] while NGOs is [ˌɛnd͡ʒiˈʔoʊs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “NGO” sits inside “NGOs”, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

NGO is recorded at frequency rank #23,644, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [ˌɛnd͡ʒiˈʔoʊ]. NGOs is at rank #23,250, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˌɛnd͡ʒiˈʔoʊs].

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 46894, this pair ranks #1,303,300 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of NGO vs NGOs

Shared letters: gno. Private to "NGO": -. Private to "NGOs": s.

"NGO" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "NGOs" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

NGOs ← gnos · nggos · ngoss · ngso · nngos · nogs

Frequency comparison

NGO#23,644

NGOs#23,250

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "NGO" and "NGOs" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "NGO" is an abbrev and "NGOs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "NGO" or "NGOs"?

"NGOs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,250 in our German list, against #23,644 for "NGO". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering NGO vs NGOs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an abbrev, it's “NGO”; for a noun, it's “NGOs”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “NGO” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable