Which to use
“sister” and “sisters” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,207
- “sister” frequency rank
- #3,453
- “sisters” frequency rank
- 4660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sister | sisters |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A daughter of the same parents as another person; a female sibling. | plural of sister |
Where the eye mixes sister and sisters
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. sister runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against sisters's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sister and sisters
A purely visual mix-up. sister (/ˈsɪs.tə(ɹ)/) and sisters (/ˈsɪstəz/) 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) - “sister” sits inside “sisters”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sister is recorded at frequency rank #1,207, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪs.tə(ɹ)/. sisters is at rank #3,453, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪstəz/.
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 4660, this pair ranks #518,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sister vs sisters
Shared letters: eirst. Private to "sister": -. Private to "sisters": -.
"sister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "sisters" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sister" and "sisters" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sister" vs "sisters" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sister" and "sisters" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sister" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sisters" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #518,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sister" and "sisters" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sifted vs sister". 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 #518,153 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.