signorvssinnerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“signor” and “sinner” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,563
“signor” frequency rank
#17,487
“sinner” frequency rank
57050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature signor sinner
Definition Alternative form of signore, a courtesy title used towards an Italian man. A person who sins or has sinned.

Where the eye mixes signor and sinner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
signor
6 ch
sinner

Visual trap between signor and sinner

A purely visual mix-up. signor (/ˈsiːnjɔr/) and sinner (/ˈsɪnɚ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

signor is recorded at frequency rank #39,563, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsiːnjɔr/. sinner is at rank #17,487, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪnɚ/.

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 57050, this pair ranks #121,932 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of signor vs sinner

Shared letters: inrs. Private to "signor": go. Private to "sinner": e.

"signor" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sinner" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • signorisgnor · sginor · siggnor · signnor · signorr · signro · sigonr · singor
  • sinnerisnner · sinenr · siner · sinnerr · sinnre · sniner · ssinner

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "signor" for "sinner" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsiːnjɔr/ versus /ˈsɪnɚ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "signor" or "sinner"?
"sinner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,487 in our English list, against #39,563 for "signor". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "signor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sinner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,932 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "signor" and "sinner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "signet vs signor". 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 #121,932 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list