Which to use
“cost” is a verb and “costs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #568
- “cost” frequency rank
- #1,163
- “costs” frequency rank
- 1731
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cost | costs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To incur a charge of; to require payment of a (specified) price. | plural of cost |
Where the eye mixes cost and costs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cost is /ˈkɒst/ while costs is /ˈkɔsts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cost” sits inside “costs”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cost is recorded at frequency rank #568, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkɒst/. costs is at rank #1,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔsts/.
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 1731, this pair ranks #526,783 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cost vs costs
Shared letters: cost. Private to "cost": -. Private to "costs": -.
"cost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "costs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC