Which to use
“psalm” is a noun and “Psalms” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,789
- “psalm” frequency rank
- #19,177
- “Psalms” frequency rank
- 32966
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | psalm | Psalms |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God. | A book of the Old Testament of the Bible, and of the Tanakh. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set psalm and Psalms apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
psalm and Psalms form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “psalm” sits inside “Psalms” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
psalm is recorded at frequency rank #13,789, classified as anoun, pronounced /sɑːm/. Psalms is at rank #19,177, tagged as aname, pronounced /sɑːmz/.
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 32966, this pair ranks #333,397 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "psalm" and "Psalms" be used interchangeably?
Remembering psalm vs Psalms
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “psalm”; for a name, it's “Psalms”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “psalm” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable