peacevspieceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,024
“peace” frequency rank
#975
“piece” frequency rank
1999
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peace piece
Definition A state of tranquility, quiet, and harmony. For instance, a state free from civil disturbance. A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.

Same sound, different letters: peace vs piece

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
peace
5 ch
piece

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. peace and piece are pronounced identically (/piːs/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1999, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peace is recorded at frequency rank #1,024, classified as anoun, pronounced /piːs/. piece is at rank #975, 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 1999, this pair ranks #526,092 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of peace vs piece

Shared letters: cep. Private to "peace": a. Private to "piece": i.

"peace" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "piece" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peaceepace · paece · peacce · peaec · pecae · ppeace
  • pieceipece · peice · picee · piecce · pieec · ppiece

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peace" and "piece" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (/piːs/), 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, "peace" or "piece"?
"piece" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #975 in our English list, against #1,024 for "peace". 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