Which to use
“communication” and “communications” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,103
- “communication” frequency rank
- #2,521
- “communications” frequency rank
- 4624
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | communication | communications |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act or fact of communicating anything; transmission. | plural of communication |
Where the eye mixes communication and communications
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 13 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between communication and communications
A purely visual mix-up. communication (/kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/) and communications (/kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃənz/) 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) - “communication” sits inside “communications”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
communication is recorded at frequency rank #2,103, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/. communications is at rank #2,521, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəˌmjuː.nɪˈkeɪ.ʃənz/.
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 4624, this pair ranks #518,272 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of communication vs communications
Shared letters: acimnotu. Private to "communication": -. Private to "communications": s.
"communication" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVVC · "communications" · 14 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- communication ← ccommunication · cmomunication · commnuication · commuincation · communciation · communiaction · communicaiton · communicasion
- communications ← ccommunications · cmomunications · commnuications · commuincations · communciations · communiactions · communicaitons · communicatinos
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "communication" and "communications" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "communication" vs "communications" - which ranks higher?
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 "communication" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "communications" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #518,272 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "communication" and "communications" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "communication vs communicative". 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 #518,272 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.