OperationvsoperationsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Operation” and “operations” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,674
“Operation” frequency rank
#28,789
“operations” frequency rank
31463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Operation operations
Definition chirurgischer Eingriff in den Organismus Plural des Substantivs operation

Letter map: Operation vs operations

Shared letters muted; letters that set Operation and operations apart highlighted. Shared run: 9.

9 ch
Operation
10 ch
operations

Corpus notes: Operation and operations

Operation and operations are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Operation” sits inside “operations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Operation is recorded at frequency rank #2,674, classified as anoun, pronounced [opəʁaˈt͡si̯oːn]. operations is at rank #28,789, tagged as anoun, 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 31463, this pair ranks #1,727,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Operation vs operations

Shared letters: aeinoprt. Private to "Operation": -. Private to "operations": s.

"Operation" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC  ·  "operations" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Operationoepration · opeartion · operaiton · operatino · operationn · operatoin · operattion · operration
  • operationsoeprations · opeartions · operaitons · operatinos · operationns · operationss · operatiosn · operatoins

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Operation" and "operations" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Operation” sits inside “operations”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "Operation" or "operations" show up more?
"Operation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,674 in our German list, against #28,789 for "operations". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "Operation" vs "operations" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Operation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "operations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,727,581 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Operation" and "operations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "operations 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 #1,727,581 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