pecs vs per, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“pecs” is a noun and “per” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,538
“pecs” frequency rank: #339
“per” frequency rank: 49877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pecs	per
Definition	plural of pec	For each.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

pecs

3 ch

per

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pecs is /pɛks/ while per is /pɜː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pecs is recorded at frequency rank #49,538, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɛks/. per is at rank #339, tagged as aprep, pronounced /pɜː/.

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 49877, this pair ranks #179,453 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pecs vs per

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pecs": cs. Private to "per": r.

"pecs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "per" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

pecs ← epcs · pces · peccs · pecss · pesc · ppecs

Frequency comparison

pecs#49,538

per#339

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pecs" and "per" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pecs" is a noun and "per" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "pecs" or "per"?

"per" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #339 in our English list, against #49,538 for "pecs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pecs vs per

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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