Which to use
“command” and “commands” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,032
- “command” frequency rank
- #7,544
- “commands” frequency rank
- 9576
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | command | commands |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An order to do something. | plural of command |
Where the eye mixes command and commands
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: command vs commands
A purely visual mix-up. command (/kəˈmɑːnd/) and commands (/kəˈmændz/) 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) - “command” sits inside “commands”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
command is recorded at frequency rank #2,032, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmɑːnd/. commands is at rank #7,544, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmændz/.
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 9576, this pair ranks #496,693 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of command vs commands
Shared letters: acdmno. Private to "command": -. Private to "commands": s.
"command" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "commands" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "command" and "commands" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "command" vs "commands" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "command" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "commands" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #496,693 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "command" and "commands" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "command vs comming". 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 #496,693 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.