Which to use
“Perkins” is a name and “permits” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,122
- “Perkins” frequency rank
- #7,828
- “permits” frequency rank
- 19950
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Perkins | permits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An English and Welsh surname originating as a patronymic from Perkin, a medieval diminutive of Peter. | plural of permit |
Where the eye mixes Perkins and permits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between Perkins and permits
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Perkins is /ˈpɝkɪnz/ while permits is /ˈpɝmɪts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Perkins is recorded at frequency rank #12,122, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈpɝkɪnz/. permits is at rank #7,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɝmɪts/.
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 19950, this pair ranks #434,562 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Perkins vs permits
Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "Perkins": kn. Private to "permits": mt.
"Perkins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "permits" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Perkins" for "permits" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Perkins" vs "permits" - which ranks higher?
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 "Perkins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "permits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,562 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Perkins" and "permits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parkin vs Perkins". 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 #434,562 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.