sistervssistersWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,012
“sister” frequency rank
#43,152
“sisters” frequency rank
76164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sister sisters
Definition Sœur (dans un sens moral, et dans un contexte de personnes anglophones). Pluriel de sister.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sister and sisters apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
sister
7 ch
sisters

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. sister (\sis.tœʁ\) and sisters (\ˈsɪs.tɚz\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “sister” sits inside “sisters”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sister is recorded at frequency rank #33,012, classified as anoun, pronounced \sis.tœʁ\. sisters is at rank #43,152, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈsɪs.tɚz\.

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 76164, this pair ranks #31,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of sister vs sisters

Shared letters: eirst. Private to "sister": -. Private to "sisters": -.

"sister" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "sisters" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sisterisster · sisetr · sisster · sisterr · sistre · sistter · sitser · ssister
  • sistersissters · sisetrs · sissters · sisterrs · sisterss · sistesr · sistres · sistters

Frequency comparison

sister#33,012
sisters#43,152

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sister" and "sisters" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\sis.tœʁ\ versus \ˈsɪs.tɚz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "sister" or "sisters"?
"sister" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,012 in our French list, against #43,152 for "sisters". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sister vs sisters

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sister” 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