cigsvscosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,829
“cigs” frequency rank
#6,553
“cos” frequency rank
41382
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cigs cos
Definition plural of cig Synonym of romaine lettuce, a long-leaved variety of lettuce.

Where the eye mixes cigs and cos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cigs
3 ch
cos

Visual trap between cigs and cos

A purely visual mix-up. cigs (/sɪɡz/) and cos (/kɑs/) 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 41382, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cigs is recorded at frequency rank #34,829, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɪɡz/. cos is at rank #6,553, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɑs/.

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 41382, this pair ranks #258,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cigs vs cos

Shared letters: cs. Private to "cigs": gi. Private to "cos": o.

"cigs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cigsccigs · cgis · ciggs · cigss · cisg · icgs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cigs" for "cos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/sɪɡz/ versus /kɑs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cigs" vs "cos" - which ranks higher?
"cos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,553 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cigs" and "cos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cigs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cigs" and "cos" 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 #258,953 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