Which to use
“abduction” and “abductions” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,396
- “abduction” frequency rank
- #43,012
- “abductions” frequency rank
- 59408
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abduction | abductions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Leading away; a carrying away. | plural of abduction |
Where the eye mixes abduction and abductions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. abduction runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVVC) against abductions's 10 (VCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between abduction and abductions
A purely visual mix-up. abduction (/əbˈdʌk.ʃn̩/) and abductions (/æbˈdʌk.ʃn̩s/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “abduction” sits inside “abductions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abduction is recorded at frequency rank #16,396, classified as anoun, pronounced /əbˈdʌk.ʃn̩/. abductions is at rank #43,012, tagged as anoun, pronounced /æbˈdʌk.ʃn̩s/.
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 59408, this pair ranks #106,368 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abduction vs abductions
Shared letters: abcdinotu. Private to "abduction": -. Private to "abductions": s.
"abduction" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "abductions" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- abduction ← abbduction · abdcution · abdduction · abducction · abduciton · abducsion · abductino · abductionn
- abductions ← abbductions · abdcutions · abdductions · abducctions · abducitons · abductinos · abductionns · abductionss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abduction" for "abductions" ever safe?
Frequency check: "abduction" vs "abductions" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "abduction" and "abductions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abduction" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abductions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #106,368 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abduction" and "abductions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abducting vs abductions". 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 #106,368 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.