Which to use
“groan” and “groans” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,771
- “groan” frequency rank
- #31,580
- “groans” frequency rank
- 56351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | groan | groans |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A low, mournful sound uttered in pain or grief. | plural of groan |
Where the eye mixes groan and groans
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. groan runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against groans's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses groan with groans
A purely visual mix-up. groan (/ɡɹəʊn/) and groans (/ɡɹoʊnz/) 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) - “groan” sits inside “groans”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
groan is recorded at frequency rank #24,771, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹəʊn/. groans is at rank #31,580, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹoʊnz/.
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 56351, this pair ranks #126,896 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of groan vs groans
Shared letters: agnor. Private to "groan": -. Private to "groans": s.
"groan" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "groans" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "groan" for "groans" ever safe?
Frequency check: "groan" vs "groans" - which ranks higher?
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 "groan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "groans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,896 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "groan" and "groans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "groans vs gronk". 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 #126,896 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.