cigarvscigsTell them apart

Which to use

“cigar” and “cigs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,479
“cigar” frequency rank
#34,829
“cigs” frequency rank
48308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cigar cigs
Definition A cylinder of tobacco rolled and wrapped with an outer covering of tobacco leaves, intended to be smoked. plural of cig

Where the eye mixes cigar and cigs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cigar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cigs's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
cigar
4 ch
cigs

Look-alike desk: cigar vs cigs

A purely visual mix-up. cigar (/sɪˈɡɑː(ɹ)/) and cigs (/sɪɡz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48308, 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)/. cigs is at rank #34,829, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɪɡz/.

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 48308, this pair ranks #194,354 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cigar vs cigs

Shared letters: cgi. Private to "cigar": ar. Private to "cigs": s.

"cigar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cigs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cigar ← ccigar · cgiar · ciagr · cigarr · ciggar · cigra · icgar
  • cigs ← ccigs · cgis · ciggs · cigss · cisg · icgs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cigar" and "cigs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/sɪˈɡɑː(ɹ)/ versus /sɪɡz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cigar" vs "cigs" - which ranks higher?
"cigar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,479 in our English list, against #34,829 for "cigs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cigar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cigs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #194,354 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cigar" and "cigs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs cigs". 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 #194,354 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list