Which to use
“game” and “games” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #182
- “game” frequency rank
- #344
- “games” frequency rank
- 526
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | game | games |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A playful or competitive activity. | plural of game |
Where the eye mixes game and games
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. game (/ɡeɪm/) and games (/ɡeɪmz/) 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) - “game” sits inside “games”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
game is recorded at frequency rank #182, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡeɪm/. games is at rank #344, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡeɪmz/.
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 526, this pair ranks #529,263 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of game vs games
Shared letters: aegm. Private to "game": -. Private to "games": s.
"game" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "games" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC