Which to use
“drunk” is an adjective and “drunks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,439
- “drunk” frequency rank
- #31,526
- “drunks” frequency rank
- 33965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drunk | drunks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intoxicated as a result of excessive alcohol consumption, usually by drinking alcoholic beverages. | plural of drunk |
Where the eye mixes drunk and drunks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses drunk with drunks
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: drunk is /dɹʌŋk/ while drunks is /dɹʌŋks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “drunk” sits inside “drunks”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drunk is recorded at frequency rank #2,439, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɹʌŋk/. drunks is at rank #31,526, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹʌŋks/.
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 33965, this pair ranks #324,842 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of drunk vs drunks
Shared letters: dknru. Private to "drunk": -. Private to "drunks": s.
"drunk" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "drunks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "drunk" for "drunks" ever safe?
Frequency check: "drunk" vs "drunks" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "drunk" and "drunks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "drunk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "drunks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #324,842 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "drunk" and "drunks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "drunks vs dunks". 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 #324,842 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.