extendervsextendsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: extender is a noun, extends is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“extender” is a noun and “extends” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,632
“extender” frequency rank
#7,224
“extends” frequency rank
49856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature extender extends
Definition One who extends. third-person singular simple present indicative of extend

Letter map: extender vs extends

Shared letters muted; letters that set extender and extends apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
extender
7 ch
extends

Grammar separator: extender vs extends

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: extender is anoun and extendsaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

extender is recorded at frequency rank #42,632, classified as anoun. extends is at rank #7,224, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɛkˈstɛndz/.

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 49856, this pair ranks #179,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of extender vs extends

Shared letters: dentx. Private to "extender": r. Private to "extends": s.

"extender" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "extends" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • extenderetxender · exetnder · extedner · extendder · extenderr · extendre · extenedr · extennder
  • extendsetxends · exetnds · extedns · extendds · extendss · extennds · extensd · extneds

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "extender" for "extends" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "extender" is a noun and "extends" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "extender" or "extends"?
"extends" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,224 in our English list, against #42,632 for "extender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "extender" and "extends".

  • Full dictionary entry for "extender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #179,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "extender" and "extends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "engender vs extender". 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 #179,644 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