Which to use
“attack” and “attacks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #842
- “attack” frequency rank
- #2,100
- “attacks” frequency rank
- 2942
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attack | attacks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An attempt to cause damage, injury to, or death of an opponent or enemy. | plural of attack |
Where the eye mixes attack and attacks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: attack vs attacks
A purely visual mix-up. attack (/əˈtæk/) and attacks (/əˈtæks/) 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) - “attack” sits inside “attacks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attack is recorded at frequency rank #842, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈtæk/. attacks is at rank #2,100, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈtæks/.
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 2942, this pair ranks #523,580 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of attack vs attacks
Shared letters: ackt. Private to "attack": -. Private to "attacks": s.
"attack" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "attacks" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "attack" and "attacks" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "attack" vs "attacks" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "attack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attacks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #523,580 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attack" and "attacks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attacks vs Atticus". 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 #523,580 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.