Which to use
“sentimental” is an adjective and “sentiments” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,410
- “sentimental” frequency rank
- #14,016
- “sentiments” frequency rank
- 28426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sentimental | sentiments |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Characterized by sentiment, sentimentality or excess emotion; appealing to the emotions (especially tender emotions) rather than reason, morality, aesthetic taste, etc. | plural of sentiment |
Where the eye mixes sentimental and sentiments
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sentimental vs sentiments
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sentimental is /ˌsɛntiˈmɛntl̩/ while sentiments is /ˈsɛn.tɪ.mənts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sentimental is recorded at frequency rank #14,410, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˌsɛntiˈmɛntl̩/. sentiments is at rank #14,016, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɛn.tɪ.mənts/.
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 28426, this pair ranks #371,155 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sentimental vs sentiments
Shared letters: eimnst. Private to "sentimental": al. Private to "sentiments": -.
"sentimental" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC · "sentiments" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sentimental ← esntimental · senitmental · senntimental · sentiemntal · sentimenatl · sentimenntal · sentimentall · sentimentla
- sentiments ← esntiments · senitments · senntiments · sentiemnts · sentimennts · sentimenst · sentimentss · sentimentts
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sentimental" for "sentiments" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "sentimental" or "sentiments" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sentimental" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sentiments" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,155 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sentimental" and "sentiments" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sentient vs sentiments". 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 #371,155 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.