youngvsYoungsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: young is a adjective, Youngs is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

By · Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org ·

Which to use

“young” is an adjective and “Youngs” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#364
“young” frequency rank
#49,155
“Youngs” frequency rank
49519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature young Youngs
Definition In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago. A surname.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set young and Youngs apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
young
6 ch
Youngs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: young is anadjective and Youngsaname. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “young” sits inside “Youngs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

young is recorded at frequency rank #364, classified as anadj, pronounced /jʌŋ/. Youngs is at rank #49,155, tagged as aname.

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 49519, this pair ranks #182,807 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of young vs Youngs

Shared letters: gnouy. Private to "young": -. Private to "Youngs": s.

"young" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC  ·  "Youngs" · 6 letters · shape VVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • young ← oyung · yonug · yougn · youngg · younng · yuong · yyoung
  • Youngs ← oyungs · yonugs · yougns · younggs · youngss · younngs · younsg · yuongs

Frequency comparison

young#364
Youngs#49,155

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "young" and "Youngs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "young" is an adjective and "Youngs" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "young" or "Youngs"?
"young" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #364 in our English list, against #49,155 for "Youngs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering young vs Youngs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “young”; for a name, it's “Youngs”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “young” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list