singvssingerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,371
“sing” frequency rank
#22,098
“singer” frequency rank
45469
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sing singer
Definition Chanter (avec sa voix). Imiter une personne en la tournant en dérision.

Where the eye mixes sing and singer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
sing
6 ch
singer

Look-alike desk: sing vs singer

A purely visual mix-up. sing (\ˈsɪŋ\) and singer (\sɛ̃.ʒe\) 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) - “sing” sits inside “singer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sing is recorded at frequency rank #23,371, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈsɪŋ\. singer is at rank #22,098, tagged as averb, pronounced \sɛ̃.ʒe\.

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 45469, this pair ranks #202,485 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sing vs singer

Shared letters: gins. Private to "sing": -. Private to "singer": er.

"sing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "singer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • singisng · singg · sinng · snig · ssing
  • singerisnger · sinegr · singerr · singger · singre · sinnger · sniger · ssinger

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sing" and "singer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈsɪŋ\ versus \sɛ̃.ʒe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sing" vs "singer" - which ranks higher?
"singer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,098 in our French list, against #23,371 for "sing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "sing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "singer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #202,485 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sing" and "singer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sind vs sing". 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 #202,485 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