communicationvscommunicationsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“communication” and “communications” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,287
“communication” frequency rank
#3,829
“communications” frequency rank
5116
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature communication communications
Definition Processus de transmission d’informations, d’idées, de messages ou de symboles entre un ou plusieurs acteurs à travers un canal, dans un contexte donné. Pluriel de communication.

Same sound, different letters: communication vs communications

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 13 letters.

13 ch
communication
14 ch
communications

Same sound, different spelling - communication / communications

This is the hard kind. communication and communications are pronounced identically (\kɔ.my.ni.ka.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “communication” sits inside “communications”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

communication is recorded at frequency rank #1,287, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.my.ni.ka.sjɔ̃\. communications is at rank #3,829, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.my.ni.ka.sjɔ̃\.

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 5116, this pair ranks #429,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of communication vs communications

Shared letters: acimnotu. Private to "communication": -. Private to "communications": s.

"communication" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVVC  ·  "communications" · 14 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • communicationccommunication · cmomunication · commnuication · commuincation · communciation · communiaction · communicaiton · communicatino
  • communicationsccommunications · cmomunications · commnuications · commuincations · communciations · communiactions · communicaitons · communicatinos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "communication" and "communications" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ.my.ni.ka.sjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "communication" vs "communications" - which ranks higher?
"communication" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,287 in our French list, against #3,829 for "communications". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "communication" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "communications" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #429,855 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list