singvssisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sing is a verb, sis is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sing” is a verb and “sis” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,977
“sing” frequency rank
#37,202
“sis” frequency rank
47179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sing sis
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs singen sechs (6)

Where the eye mixes sing and sis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sing
3 ch
sis

Look-alike desk: sing vs sis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sing is [zɪŋ] while sis is [sis]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47179, 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]. sis is at rank #37,202, tagged as anum, pronounced [sis].

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 47179, this pair ranks #1,293,505 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sing vs sis

Shared letters: is. Private to "sing": gn. Private to "sis": -.

"sing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • singisng · singg · sinng · snig · ssing

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "sing" and "sis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sing" is a verb and "sis" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sing" or "sis"?
"sing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,977 in our German list, against #37,202 for "sis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,293,505 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sing" and "sis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seg vs sis". 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 #1,293,505 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