Which to use
“pers” is a pronoun and “pos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,278
- “pers” frequency rank
- #11,268
- “pos” frequency rank
- 47546
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pers | pos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That which belongs to per, theirs (singular): possessive case of per, used in place of a noun. | Clipping of positive. |
Letter map: pers vs pos
Shared letters muted; letters that set pers and pos apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for pers / pos
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pers is apronoun and posanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pers is recorded at frequency rank #36,278, classified as apron. pos is at rank #11,268, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɒz/.
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 47546, this pair ranks #201,468 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pers vs pos
Shared letters: ps. Private to "pers": er. Private to "pos": o.
"pers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pers ← eprs · perrs · pesr · ppers
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pers" and "pos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pers" or "pos"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pers" and "pos".
- Full dictionary entry for "pers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,468 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pers" and "pos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pecs vs pers". 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 #201,468 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.