singsvssinsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: sings is a verb, sins is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sings” is a verb and “sins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,487
“sings” frequency rank
#6,737
“sins” frequency rank
15224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sings sins
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of sing plural of sin

Where the eye mixes sings and sins

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

5 ch
sings
4 ch
sins

Look-alike desk: sings vs sins

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sings is /sɪŋz/ while sins is /sɪnz/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sings is recorded at frequency rank #8,487, classified as averb, pronounced /sɪŋz/. sins is at rank #6,737, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sɪnz/.

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 15224, this pair ranks #465,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of sings vs sins

Shared letters: ins. Private to "sings": g. Private to "sins": -.

"sings" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "sins" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • singsisngs · singgs · singss · sinngs · sinsg · snigs · ssings
  • sinsisns · sinns · sinss · sisn · snis · ssins

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sings" and "sins" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sings" is a verb and "sins" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "sings" vs "sins" - which ranks higher?
"sins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,737 in our English list, against #8,487 for "sings". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sings" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #465,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sings" and "sins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "SIDS vs sings". 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 #465,314 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