showsvssinglesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,130
“shows” frequency rank
#3,773
“singles” frequency rank
11903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shows singles
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs show 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs single

Letter map: shows vs singles

Shared letters muted; letters that set shows and singles apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

5 ch
shows
7 ch
singles

Pair insight - shows / singles

shows and singles 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shows is recorded at frequency rank #8,130, classified as averb, pronounced […]. singles is at rank #3,773, 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 11903, this pair ranks #1,967,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shows vs singles

Shared letters: s. Private to "shows": how. Private to "singles": egiln.

"shows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "singles" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • showshsows · shhows · shosw · showss · showws · shwos · sohws · sshows
  • singlesisngles · signles · singels · singgles · singless · singlles · singlse · sinlges

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "shows" for "singles" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "shows" vs "singles" - which ranks higher?
"singles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,773 in our German list, against #8,130 for "shows". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "shows" and "singles".

  • Full dictionary entry for "shows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "singles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,967,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shows" and "singles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs shows". 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 #1,967,301 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