Which to use
“pease” and “phrase” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,149
- “pease” frequency rank
- #4,320
- “phrase” frequency rank
- 41469
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pease | phrase |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of pea (“common plant; its edible seed”). | A short written or spoken expression. |
Where the eye mixes pease and phrase
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pease runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against phrase's 6 (CCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pease with phrase
A purely visual mix-up. pease (/piːz/) and phrase (/fɹeɪz/) 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 41469, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pease is recorded at frequency rank #37,149, classified as anoun, pronounced /piːz/. phrase is at rank #4,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɹeɪz/.
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 41469, this pair ranks #258,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pease vs phrase
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "pease": -. Private to "phrase": hr.
"pease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "phrase" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pease" and "phrase" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "pease" or "phrase" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "phrase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #258,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pease" and "phrase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pease vs pecs". 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 #258,113 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.