Which to use
“cushion” and “cushions” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,316
- “cushion” frequency rank
- #22,636
- “cushions” frequency rank
- 35952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cushion | cushions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support. | plural of cushion |
Where the eye mixes cushion and cushions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. cushion runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against cushions's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cushion and cushions
A purely visual mix-up. cushion (/ˈkʊʃən/) and cushions (/ˈkʊʃənz/) 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) - “cushion” sits inside “cushions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cushion is recorded at frequency rank #13,316, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʊʃən/. cushions is at rank #22,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʊʃənz/.
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 35952, this pair ranks #307,493 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cushion vs cushions
Shared letters: chinosu. Private to "cushion": -. Private to "cushions": -.
"cushion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "cushions" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cushion" for "cushions" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cushion" or "cushions"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cushion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cushions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,493 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cushion" and "cushions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cushioned vs cushions". 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 #307,493 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.