Which to use
“religion” and “religions” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,877
- “religion” frequency rank
- #8,194
- “religions” frequency rank
- 10071
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | religion | religions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Belief in a spiritual or metaphysical reality (often including at least one deity), accompanied by practices or rituals pertaining to the belief. | plural of religion |
Where the eye mixes religion and religions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses religion with religions
A purely visual mix-up. religion (/ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ən/) and religions (/ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ənz/) 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) - “religion” sits inside “religions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
religion is recorded at frequency rank #1,877, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ən/. religions is at rank #8,194, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈlɪd͡ʒ.ənz/.
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 10071, this pair ranks #494,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of religion vs religions
Shared letters: egilnor. Private to "religion": -. Private to "religions": s.
"religion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "religions" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "religion" and "religions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "religion" vs "religions" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "religion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "religions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #494,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "religion" and "religions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "religion vs revision". 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 #494,186 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.