typevstypesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#546
“type” frequency rank
#1,509
“types” frequency rank
2055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature type types
Definition A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class. plural of type

Where the eye mixes type and types

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

4 ch
type
5 ch
types

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. type (/taɪp/) and types (/taɪps/) 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) - “type” sits inside “types”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

type is recorded at frequency rank #546, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪp/. types is at rank #1,509, tagged as anoun, pronounced /taɪps/.

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 2055, this pair ranks #525,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of type vs types

Shared letters: epty. Private to "type": -. Private to "types": s.

"type" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "types" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • typetpye · ttype · tyep · typpe · tyype · ytpe
  • typestpyes · ttypes · tyeps · typess · typpes · typse · tyypes · ytpes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "type" and "types" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/taɪp/ versus /taɪps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "type" or "types"?
"type" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #546 in our English list, against #1,509 for "types". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list