Which to use
“pease” is a noun and “pleased” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,149
- “pease” frequency rank
- #3,384
- “pleased” frequency rank
- 40533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pease | pleased |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of pea (“common plant; its edible seed”). | Happy, content. |
Where the eye mixes pease and pleased
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pease runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against pleased's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pease and pleased
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pease is /piːz/ while pleased is /pliːzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40533, 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/. pleased is at rank #3,384, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pliːzd/.
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 40533, this pair ranks #266,695 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pease vs pleased
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "pease": -. Private to "pleased": dl.
"pease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pleased" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pease" for "pleased" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pease" or "pleased"?
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 "pleased" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,695 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pease" and "pleased" 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 #266,695 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.