HamburgervshamburgersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Hamburger is a adjective, hamburgers is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Hamburger” is an adjective and “hamburgers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,036
“Hamburger” frequency rank
#29,378
“hamburgers” frequency rank
50414
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Hamburger hamburgers
Definition Hambourgeois, de Hambourg. Pluriel de hamburger.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Hamburger and hamburgers apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
Hamburger
10 ch
hamburgers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Hamburger is \ˈhamˌbʊʁɡɐ\ while hamburgers is ^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃.bœʁ.ɡœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Hamburger” sits inside “hamburgers”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50414, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Hamburger is recorded at frequency rank #21,036, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈhamˌbʊʁɡɐ\. hamburgers is at rank #29,378, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɑ̃.bœʁ.ɡœʁ\.

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 50414, this pair ranks #162,851 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Hamburger vs hamburgers

Shared letters: abeghmru. Private to "Hamburger": -. Private to "hamburgers": s.

"Hamburger" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "hamburgers" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Hamburgerahmburger · habmurger · hambburger · hambruger · hambugrer · hamburegr · hamburgerr · hamburgger
  • hamburgersahmburgers · habmurgers · hambburgers · hambrugers · hambugrers · hamburegrs · hamburgerrs · hamburgerss

Frequency comparison

Hamburger#21,036
hamburgers#29,378

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Hamburger" and "hamburgers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Hamburger" is an adjective and "hamburgers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Hamburger" or "hamburgers"?
"Hamburger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,036 in our French list, against #29,378 for "hamburgers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Hamburger vs hamburgers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “Hamburger”; for a noun, it's “hamburgers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Hamburger” 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