electionsvselectronWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“elections” and “electron” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,198
“elections” frequency rank
#9,327
“electron” frequency rank
11525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elections electron
Definition plural of election The subatomic particle having a negative charge and orbiting the nucleus; the flow of electrons in a conductor constitutes electricity.

Where the eye mixes elections and electron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

9 ch
elections
8 ch
electron

Look-alike desk: elections vs electron

A purely visual mix-up. elections (/ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)nz/) and electron (/ɪˈlɛk.tɹɒn/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elections is recorded at frequency rank #2,198, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)nz/. electron is at rank #9,327, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈlɛk.tɹɒn/.

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 11525, this pair ranks #486,537 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of elections vs electron

Shared letters: celnot. Private to "elections": is. Private to "electron": r.

"elections" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC  ·  "electron" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • electionseelctions · elcetions · elecctions · elecitons · electinos · electionns · electionss · electiosn
  • electroneelctron · elcetron · elecctron · elecrton · electorn · electrno · electronn · electrron

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "elections" for "electron" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪˈlɛkʃ(ə)nz/ versus /ɪˈlɛk.tɹɒn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "elections" or "electron"?
"elections" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,198 in our English list, against #9,327 for "electron". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "elections" and "electron" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elections" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "electron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #486,537 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elections" and "electron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Electra vs electron". 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 #486,537 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list