Which to use
“sign” and “signs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #885
- “sign” frequency rank
- #2,014
- “signs” frequency rank
- 2899
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sign | signs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A visible fact that shows that something exists or may happen. | plural of sign |
Where the eye mixes sign and signs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. sign (/saɪn/) and signs (/saɪnz/) 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) - “sign” sits inside “signs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sign is recorded at frequency rank #885, classified as anoun, pronounced /saɪn/. signs is at rank #2,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced /saɪnz/.
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 2899, this pair ranks #523,710 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sign vs signs
Shared letters: gins. Private to "sign": -. Private to "signs": -.
"sign" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "signs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC