Which to use
“weakness” and “weaknesses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,282
- “weakness” frequency rank
- #9,694
- “weaknesses” frequency rank
- 14976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | weakness | weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The condition of being weak. | plural of weakness |
Where the eye mixes weakness and weaknesses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses weakness with weaknesses
A purely visual mix-up. weakness (/ˈwiːk.nɪs/) and weaknesses (/ˈwiːk.nɪ.sɪz/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “weakness” sits inside “weaknesses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
weakness is recorded at frequency rank #5,282, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwiːk.nɪs/. weaknesses is at rank #9,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwiːk.nɪ.sɪz/.
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 14976, this pair ranks #466,790 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of weakness vs weaknesses
Shared letters: aeknsw. Private to "weakness": -. Private to "weaknesses": -.
"weakness" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "weaknesses" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- weakness ← ewakness · waekness · weakenss · weakkness · weaknes · weaknness · weaknses · weankess
- weaknesses ← ewaknesses · waeknesses · weakensses · weakknesses · weakneses · weaknesess · weaknessess · weaknessse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "weakness" for "weaknesses" ever safe?
Frequency check: "weakness" vs "weaknesses" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "weakness" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "weaknesses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #466,790 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "weakness" and "weaknesses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weakness vs wetness". 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 #466,790 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.