singervsSingleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,483
“singer” frequency rank
#2,320
“Single” frequency rank
15803
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature singer Single
Definition jemand, der singt Mensch, der ohne feste Beziehung zu einer anderen Person und ohne minderjähriges Kind im Haushalt lebt; jemand, der alleinstehend ist

Letter map: singer vs Single

Shared letters muted; letters that set singer and Single apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. singer (CVCCVC) and Single (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
singer
6 ch
Single

Spelling & dictionary notes on singer vs Single

singer and Single 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15803, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

singer is recorded at frequency rank #13,483, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. 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 15803, this pair ranks #1,941,014 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of singer vs Single

Shared letters: egins. Private to "singer": r. Private to "Single": l.

"singer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Single" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • singer ← isnger · signer · sinegr · singerr · singger · singre · sinnger · sniger
  • Single ← isngle · signle · singel · singgle · singlle · sinlge · sinngle · snigle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "singer" for "Single" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "singer" or "Single"?
"Single" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,320 in our German list, against #13,483 for "singer". 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 "singer" and "Single".

  • Full dictionary entry for "singer" 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 #1,941,014 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "singer" and "Single" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs singer". 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 #1,941,014 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