Which to use
“deal” and “deals” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #477
- “deal” frequency rank
- #2,527
- “deals” frequency rank
- 3004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deal | deals |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A division, a portion, a share, a part, a piece. | plural of deal |
Where the eye mixes deal and deals
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. deal (/diːl/) and deals (/diːlz/) 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) - “deal” sits inside “deals”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deal is recorded at frequency rank #477, classified as anoun, pronounced /diːl/. deals is at rank #2,527, tagged as anoun, pronounced /diːlz/.
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 3004, this pair ranks #523,401 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deal vs deals
Shared letters: adel. Private to "deal": -. Private to "deals": s.
"deal" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "deals" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC