Which to use
“virtue” and “virtues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,872
- “virtue” frequency rank
- #15,546
- “virtues” frequency rank
- 23418
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | virtue | virtues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (uncountable) The idea of all that is good or excellent (in every sense of those terms) in a human being, collectively instantiated by a varying number of human traits known as "the virtues", the enumeration of which vary by the many virtue systems which have developed within different cultures, religions, and historical periods. | plural of virtue |
Where the eye mixes virtue and virtues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. virtue runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against virtues's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between virtue and virtues
A purely visual mix-up. virtue (/ˈvɜːt͡ʃuː/) and virtues (/ˈvəː.t͡ʃuːs/) 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) - “virtue” sits inside “virtues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
virtue is recorded at frequency rank #7,872, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvɜːt͡ʃuː/. virtues is at rank #15,546, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvəː.t͡ʃuːs/.
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 23418, this pair ranks #409,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of virtue vs virtues
Shared letters: eirtuv. Private to "virtue": -. Private to "virtues": s.
"virtue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "virtues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "virtue" for "virtues" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "virtue" or "virtues" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "virtue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "virtues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "virtue" and "virtues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "virtues vs virtuoso". 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 #409,414 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.