Which to use
“fragment” and “fragments” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,918
- “fragment” frequency rank
- #9,334
- “fragments” frequency rank
- 23252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fragment | fragments |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part, either physically or not | plural of fragment |
Where the eye mixes fragment and fragments
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. fragment runs 8 letters (CCVCCVCC) against fragments's 9 (CCVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fragment and fragments
A purely visual mix-up. fragment (/ˈfɹæɡmənt/) and fragments (/ˈfɹæɡmənts/) 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) - “fragment” sits inside “fragments”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fragment is recorded at frequency rank #13,918, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɹæɡmənt/. fragments is at rank #9,334, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɹæɡmənts/.
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 23252, this pair ranks #410,660 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fragment vs fragments
Shared letters: aefgmnrt. Private to "fragment": -. Private to "fragments": s.
"fragment" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "fragments" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fragment" for "fragments" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "fragment" or "fragments" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fragment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fragments" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,660 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fragment" and "fragments" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figment vs fragment". 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 #410,660 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.