source vs sources, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“source” is a noun and “sources” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,633
“source” frequency rank: #47,003
“sources” frequency rank: 56636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	source	sources
Definition	aus der Erde kommendes Wasser	3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs source

Letter map: source vs sources

Shared letters muted; letters that set source and sources apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

6 ch

source

7 ch

sources

Grammar separator: source vs sources

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: source is anoun and sourcesaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “source” sits inside “sources”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

source is recorded at frequency rank #9,633, classified as anoun, pronounced [suʀs]. sources is at rank #47,003, 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 56636, this pair ranks #932,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of source vs sources

Shared letters: ceorsu. Private to "source": -. Private to "sources": -.

"source" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "sources" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

source ← osurce · soruce · soucre · sourcce · sourec · sourrce · ssource · suorce
sources ← osurces · soruces · soucres · sourcces · sourcess · sourcse · sourecs · sourrces

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "source" and "sources" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "source" is a noun and "sources" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "source" or "sources"?

"source" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,633 in our German list, against #47,003 for "sources". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "source" and "sources". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "source" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "sources" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #932,612 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"source" and "sources" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs sources". 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 #932,612 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.