pacevspeaceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pace” and “peace” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,773
“pace” frequency rank
#1,024
“peace” frequency rank
4797
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pace peace
Definition A step. A state of tranquility, quiet, and harmony. For instance, a state free from civil disturbance.

Where the eye mixes pace and peace

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

4 ch
pace
5 ch
peace

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pace (/peɪs/) and peace (/piːs/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pace is recorded at frequency rank #3,773, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪs/. peace is at rank #1,024, tagged as anoun, pronounced /piːs/.

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 4797, this pair ranks #517,638 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pace vs peace

Shared letters: acep. Private to "pace": -. Private to "peace": -.

"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "peace" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paceapce · pacce · paec · pcae · ppace
  • peaceepace · paece · peacce · peaec · pecae · ppeace

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pace" and "peace" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/peɪs/ versus /piːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pace" or "peace"?
"peace" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,024 in our English list, against #3,773 for "pace". 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