Which to use
“pers” is a pronoun and “pus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,278
- “pers” frequency rank
- #28,336
- “pus” frequency rank
- 64614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pers | pus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | That which belongs to per, theirs (singular): possessive case of per, used in place of a noun. | A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection. |
Letter map: pers vs pus
Shared letters muted; letters that set pers and pus apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - pers and pus
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pers is apronoun and pusanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pers is recorded at frequency rank #36,278, classified as apron. pus is at rank #28,336, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pʌs/.
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 64614, this pair ranks #76,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pers vs pus
Shared letters: ps. Private to "pers": er. Private to "pus": u.
"pers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pers ← eprs · perrs · pesr · ppers
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pers" and "pus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pers" vs "pus" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "pers" vs "pus" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "pers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #76,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pers" and "pus" 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 #76,826 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.