Which to use
“peril” and “perils” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,206
- “peril” frequency rank
- #25,169
- “perils” frequency rank
- 42375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peril | perils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A situation of serious and immediate danger. | plural of peril |
Where the eye mixes peril and perils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses peril with perils
A purely visual mix-up. peril (/ˈpɛɹɪl/) and perils (/ˈpɛɹɪlz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “peril” sits inside “perils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peril is recorded at frequency rank #17,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛɹɪl/. perils is at rank #25,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛɹɪlz/.
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 42375, this pair ranks #249,837 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of peril vs perils
Shared letters: eilpr. Private to "peril": -. Private to "perils": s.
"peril" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "perils" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "peril" and "perils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "peril" vs "perils" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "peril" and "perils" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "peril" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "perils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #249,837 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peril" and "perils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "penile vs perils". 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 #249,837 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.