connectionvsconnectionsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: connection is a noun, connections is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“connection” is a noun and “connections” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,788
“connection” frequency rank
#36,327
“connections” frequency rank
56115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature connection connections
Definition Variante orthographique de connexion. Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif imparfait de connecter.

Where the eye mixes connection and connections

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. connection runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVVC) against connections's 11 (CVCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
connection
11 ch
connections

Look-alike desk: connection vs connections

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: connection is \kɔ.nɛ.ksjɔ̃\ while connections is \ko.nɛk.tjɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “connection” sits inside “connections”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

connection is recorded at frequency rank #19,788, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.nɛ.ksjɔ̃\. connections is at rank #36,327, tagged as averb, pronounced \ko.nɛk.tjɔ̃\.

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 56115, this pair ranks #123,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of connection vs connections

Shared letters: ceinot. Private to "connection": -. Private to "connections": s.

"connection" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "connections" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • connection ← cconnection · cnonection · conection · conenction · conncetion · connecction · conneciton · connectino
  • connections ← cconnections · cnonections · conections · conenctions · conncetions · connecctions · connecitons · connectinos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "connection" for "connections" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "connection" is a noun and "connections" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "connection" or "connections" show up more?
"connection" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,788 in our French list, against #36,327 for "connections". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "connection" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "connections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "connection" and "connections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "connections vs convection". 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 #123,168 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