Which to use
“school” and “schools” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #188
- “school” frequency rank
- #956
- “schools” frequency rank
- 1144
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | school | schools |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution. | plural of school |
Where the eye mixes school and schools
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: school vs schools
A purely visual mix-up. school (/skuːl/) and schools (/skuːlz/) 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) - “school” sits inside “schools”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
school is recorded at frequency rank #188, classified as anoun, pronounced /skuːl/. schools is at rank #956, tagged as anoun, pronounced /skuːlz/.
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 1144, this pair ranks #528,006 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of school vs schools
Shared letters: chlos. Private to "school": -. Private to "schools": -.
"school" · 6 letters · shape CCCVVC · "schools" · 7 letters · shape CCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "school" and "schools" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "school" or "schools"?
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 "school" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "schools" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #528,006 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "school" and "schools" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "schooler vs schools". 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 #528,006 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.