Which to use
“violation” and “violations” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,647
- “violation” frequency rank
- #7,302
- “violations” frequency rank
- 12949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | violation | violations |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act or an instance of violating or the condition of being violated. | plural of violation |
Where the eye mixes violation and violations
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: violation vs violations
A purely visual mix-up. violation (/ˌvaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/) and violations (/ˌvaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃənz/) 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) - “violation” sits inside “violations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
violation is recorded at frequency rank #5,647, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌvaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃən/. violations is at rank #7,302, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌvaɪ.əˈleɪ.ʃənz/.
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 12949, this pair ranks #478,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of violation vs violations
Shared letters: ailnotv. Private to "violation": -. Private to "violations": s.
"violation" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVVC · "violations" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- violation ← ivolation · viloation · vioaltion · violaiton · violasion · violatino · violationn · violatoin
- violations ← ivolations · viloations · vioaltions · violaitons · violatinos · violationns · violationss · violatiosn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "violation" for "violations" ever safe?
Which is more common, "violation" or "violations"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "violation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "violations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #478,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "violation" and "violations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "violation vs volition". 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 #478,593 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.