Which to use
“sing” is a verb and “single” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,371
- “sing” frequency rank
- #8,310
- “single” frequency rank
- 31681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sing | single |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chanter (avec sa voix). | Cabine ou chambre d’hôtel pour une personne. Dans ce cas, s’utilise au féminin, et s’oppose à double ou twin. |
Where the eye mixes sing and single
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sing vs single
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sing is \ˈsɪŋ\ while single is \siŋ.ɡœl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sing” sits inside “single”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31681, 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\. single is at rank #8,310, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siŋ.ɡœl\.
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 31681, this pair ranks #302,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sing vs single
Shared letters: gins. Private to "sing": -. Private to "single": el.
"sing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "single" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sing" for "single" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sing" or "single"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sing" and "single" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "single" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,255 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sing" and "single" 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 #302,255 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.