Which to use
“symptom” and “symptoms” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,340
- “symptom” frequency rank
- #3,142
- “symptoms” frequency rank
- 15482
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | symptom | symptoms |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a symptom is felt or experienced by the patient, while a sign can be detected by an observer. | plural of symptom |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set symptom and symptoms apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. symptom (/ˈsɪm(p)təm/) and symptoms (/ˈsɪmptəmz/) 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) - “symptom” sits inside “symptoms”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15482, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
symptom is recorded at frequency rank #12,340, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪm(p)təm/. symptoms is at rank #3,142, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪmptəmz/.
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 15482, this pair ranks #463,679 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of symptom vs symptoms
Shared letters: mopsty. Private to "symptom": -. Private to "symptoms": -.
"symptom" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "symptoms" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC