Which to use
“pease” and “posse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,149
- “pease” frequency rank
- #23,072
- “posse” frequency rank
- 60221
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pease | posse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of pea (“common plant; its edible seed”). | A group or company of people, originally especially one having hostile intent; a throng, a crowd. |
Where the eye mixes pease and posse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pease (CVVCV) and posse (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between pease and posse
A purely visual mix-up. pease (/piːz/) and posse (/ˈpɒs.i/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60221, 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/. posse is at rank #23,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɒs.i/.
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 60221, this pair ranks #101,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pease vs posse
Shared letters: eps. Private to "pease": a. Private to "posse": o.
"pease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "posse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pease" and "posse" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pease" or "posse"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pease" and "posse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pease" and "posse" 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 #101,531 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.