Which to use
“pension” and “person” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,969
- “pension” frequency rank
- #257
- “person” frequency rank
- 5226
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pension | person |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An annuity paid regularly as benefit due to a retired employee, serviceman etc. in consideration of past services, originally and chiefly by a government but also by various private pension schemes. | An individual who has been granted personhood; usually a human being. |
Where the eye mixes pension and person
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pension runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against person's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pension vs person
A purely visual mix-up. pension (/ˈpɛnʃən/) and person (/ˈpɜː.sən/) 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 5226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pension is recorded at frequency rank #4,969, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛnʃən/. person is at rank #257, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɜː.sən/.
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 5226, this pair ranks #516,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pension vs person
Shared letters: enops. Private to "pension": i. Private to "person": r.
"pension" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "person" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pension" and "person" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "pension" or "person" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pension" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "person" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,123 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pension" and "person" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pension vs pinion". 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 #516,123 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.