Which to use
“election” and “elections” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #870
- “election” frequency rank
- #2,198
- “elections” frequency rank
- 3068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | election | elections |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councillors, or other representatives by popular vote. | plural of election |
Where the eye mixes election and elections
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between election and elections
A purely visual mix-up. election (/ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n/) and elections (/ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)nz/) 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) - “election” sits inside “elections”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
election is recorded at frequency rank #870, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)n/. elections is at rank #2,198, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)nz/.
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 3068, this pair ranks #523,208 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of election vs elections
Shared letters: ceilnot. Private to "election": -. Private to "elections": s.
"election" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVVC · "elections" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "election" and "elections" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "election" or "elections"?
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 "election" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "elections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #523,208 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "election" and "elections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elation vs election". 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 #523,208 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.