Which to use
“companies” and “companions” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #672
- “companies” frequency rank
- #9,720
- “companions” frequency rank
- 10392
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | companies | companions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of company | plural of companion |
Where the eye mixes companies and companions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. companies runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVVC) against companions's 10 (CVCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between companies and companions
A purely visual mix-up. companies (/ˈkʌmpəniz/) and companions (/kəmˈpænjənz/) 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 10392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
companies is recorded at frequency rank #672, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʌmpəniz/. companions is at rank #9,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəmˈpænjənz/.
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 10392, this pair ranks #492,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of companies vs companions
Shared letters: acimnops. Private to "companies": e. Private to "companions": -.
"companies" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "companions" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- companies ← ccompanies · cmopanies · comapnies · commpanies · compaines · companeis · companiess · companise
- companions ← ccompanions · cmopanions · comapnions · commpanions · compainons · companinos · companionns · companionss
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "companies" and "companions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "companies" or "companions"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "companies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "companions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #492,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "companies" and "companions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "companies vs complies". 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 #492,584 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.