Which to use
“cigar” and “cigars” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,479
- “cigar” frequency rank
- #17,792
- “cigars” frequency rank
- 31271
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cigar | cigars |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A cylinder of tobacco rolled and wrapped with an outer covering of tobacco leaves, intended to be smoked. | plural of cigar |
Where the eye mixes cigar and cigars
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cigar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cigars's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cigar with cigars
A purely visual mix-up. cigar (/sɪˈɡɑː(ɹ)/) and cigars (/sɪˈɡɑɹz/) 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) - “cigar” sits inside “cigars”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cigar is recorded at frequency rank #13,479, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɪˈɡɑː(ɹ)/. cigars is at rank #17,792, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɪˈɡɑɹz/.
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 31271, this pair ranks #347,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cigar vs cigars
Shared letters: acgir. Private to "cigar": -. Private to "cigars": s.
"cigar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cigars" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cigar" for "cigars" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cigar" or "cigars"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cigar" and "cigars" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cigar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cigars" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cigar" and "cigars" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ciara vs cigars". 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 #347,536 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.