vikingvsvikingsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,313
“viking” frequency rank
#17,036
“vikings” frequency rank
37349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature viking vikings
Definition Relatif aux Vikings. Pluriel de viking.

Same sound, different letters: viking vs vikings

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

6 ch
viking
7 ch
vikings

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. viking and vikings are pronounced identically (\vi.kiŋ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “viking” sits inside “vikings”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viking is recorded at frequency rank #20,313, classified as anadj, pronounced \vi.kiŋ\. vikings is at rank #17,036, tagged as anadj, pronounced \vi.kiŋ\.

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 37349, this pair ranks #263,100 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of viking vs vikings

Shared letters: giknv. Private to "viking": -. Private to "vikings": s.

"viking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "vikings" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vikingivking · viikng · vikign · vikingg · vikinng · vikking · viknig · vkiing
  • vikingsivkings · viikngs · vikigns · vikinggs · vikingss · vikinngs · vikinsg · vikkings

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "viking" and "vikings" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\vi.kiŋ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "viking" or "vikings"?
"vikings" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,036 in our French list, against #20,313 for "viking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list