queenvsqueensWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,523
“queen” frequency rank
#19,355
“queens” frequency rank
24878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature queen queens
Definition Königin Plural des Substantivs queen

Where the eye mixes queen and queens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
queen
6 ch
queens

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. queen ([kwiːn]) and queens ([kwiːnz]) 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) - “queen” sits inside “queens”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

queen is recorded at frequency rank #5,523, classified as anoun, pronounced [kwiːn]. queens is at rank #19,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kwiːnz].

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 24878, this pair ranks #1,841,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of queen vs queens

Shared letters: enqu. Private to "queen": -. Private to "queens": s.

"queen" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "queens" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • queenqeuen · qqueen · queenn · quen · quene · uqeen
  • queensqeuens · qqueens · queenns · queenss · queesn · quenes · quens · uqeens

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "queen" and "queens" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([kwiːn] versus [kwiːnz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "queen" or "queens"?
"queen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,523 in our German list, against #19,355 for "queens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "queen" and "queens". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "queen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "queens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,841,329 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "queen" and "queens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "queens vs Quests". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list