Which to use
“violin” and “violins” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,634
- “violin” frequency rank
- #31,821
- “violins” frequency rank
- 42455
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | violin | violins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small unfretted stringed instrument with four strings tuned (lowest to highest) G-D-A-E, usually held against the chin and played with a bow. | plural of violin |
Letter map: violin vs violins
Shared letters muted; letters that set violin and violins apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. violin runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against violins's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - violin / violins
violin and violins are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “violin” sits inside “violins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
violin is recorded at frequency rank #10,634, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌvaɪ.əˈlɪn/. violins is at rank #31,821, tagged as anoun.
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 42455, this pair ranks #249,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of violin vs violins
Shared letters: ilnov. Private to "violin": -. Private to "violins": s.
"violin" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "violins" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "violin" and "violins" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "violin" vs "violins" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "violin" and "violins". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "violin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "violins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #249,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "violin" and "violins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "violinist vs violins". 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 #249,041 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.