pecvspersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pec is a noun, pers is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pec” is a noun and “pers” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,251
“pec” frequency rank
#36,278
“pers” frequency rank
83529
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pec pers
Definition The pectoralis major muscle. That which belongs to per, theirs (singular): possessive case of per, used in place of a noun.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pec and pers apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pec
4 ch
pers

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pec is anoun and persapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pec is recorded at frequency rank #47,251, classified as anoun. pers is at rank #36,278, tagged as apron.

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 83529, this pair ranks #13,646 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pec vs pers

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pec": c. Private to "pers": rs.

"pec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perseprs · perrs · pesr · ppers

Frequency comparison

pec#47,251
pers#36,278

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pec" and "pers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pec" is a noun and "pers" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pec" or "pers"?
"pers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,278 in our English list, against #47,251 for "pec". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pec vs pers

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pec”; for a pronoun, it's “pers”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pec” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list