Which to use
“paisley” and “parsley” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,410
- “paisley” frequency rank
- #20,454
- “parsley” frequency rank
- 39864
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paisley | parsley |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A motif of a swirling droplet. | A bright green, biennial herb, Petroselinum crispum, having many cultivars. |
Where the eye mixes paisley and parsley
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. paisley (CVVCCVV) and parsley (CVCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between paisley and parsley
A purely visual mix-up. paisley (/ˈpeɪzli/) and parsley (/ˈpɑː(ɹ)sli/) 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 a single letter - i in “paisley” becomes r in “parsley”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paisley is recorded at frequency rank #19,410, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪzli/. parsley is at rank #20,454, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɑː(ɹ)sli/.
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 39864, this pair ranks #272,802 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paisley vs parsley
Shared letters: aelpsy. Private to "paisley": i. Private to "parsley": r.
"paisley" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV · "parsley" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paisley" and "parsley" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "paisley" or "parsley" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "paisley" and "parsley" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paisley" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "parsley" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #272,802 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paisley" and "parsley" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parlay vs parsley". 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 #272,802 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.