Which to use
“sing” is a verb and “Single” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,977
- “sing” frequency rank
- #2,320
- “Single” frequency rank
- 12297
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sing | Single |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs singen | Mensch, der ohne feste Beziehung zu einer anderen Person und ohne minderjähriges Kind im Haushalt lebt; jemand, der alleinstehend ist |
Where the eye mixes sing and Single
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sing runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Single's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sing vs Single
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sing is [zɪŋ] while Single is [ˈsɪŋl̩]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sing” sits inside “Single”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12297, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sing is recorded at frequency rank #9,977, classified as averb, pronounced [zɪŋ]. Single is at rank #2,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsɪŋl̩].
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 12297, this pair ranks #1,965,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sing vs Single
Shared letters: gins. Private to "sing": -. Private to "Single": el.
"sing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "Single" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sing" for "Single" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sing" or "Single"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sing" and "Single" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Single" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,965,019 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sing" and "Single" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sing". 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 #1,965,019 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.