feminismvsfeministsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,928
“feminism” frequency rank
#12,775
“feminists” frequency rank
21703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feminism feminists
Definition The state of being feminine; femininity. plural of feminist

Where the eye mixes feminism and feminists

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. feminism runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCC) against feminists's 9 (CVCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
feminism
9 ch
feminists

Look-alike desk: feminism vs feminists

A purely visual mix-up. feminism (/ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/) and feminists (/ˈfɛmənɪsts/) 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 21703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feminism is recorded at frequency rank #8,928, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/. feminists is at rank #12,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɛmənɪsts/.

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 21703, this pair ranks #421,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feminism vs feminists

Shared letters: efimns. Private to "feminism": -. Private to "feminists": t.

"feminism" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "feminists" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feminism ← efminism · feimnism · femiinsm · feminims · feminismm · feminissm · feminnism · feminsim
  • feminists ← efminists · feimnists · femiinsts · feminissts · feministss · feministts · feminitss · feminnists

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "feminism" and "feminists" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/ versus /ˈfɛmənɪsts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "feminism" vs "feminists" - which ranks higher?
"feminism" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,928 in our English list, against #12,775 for "feminists". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feminism" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feminists" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #421,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feminism" and "feminists" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feminist vs feminists". 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 #421,997 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