Which to use
“persons” and “prisons” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,443
- “persons” frequency rank
- #9,232
- “prisons” frequency rank
- 12675
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | persons | prisons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of person, used to refer to them individually, rather than as a group; contrast people | plural of prison |
Where the eye mixes persons and prisons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between persons and prisons
A purely visual mix-up. persons (/ˈpɜː.sənz/) and prisons (/ˈpɹɪzənz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
persons is recorded at frequency rank #3,443, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɜː.sənz/. prisons is at rank #9,232, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɪzənz/.
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 12675, this pair ranks #480,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of persons vs prisons
Shared letters: noprs. Private to "persons": e. Private to "prisons": i.
"persons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "prisons" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "persons" and "prisons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "persons" or "prisons" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "persons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prisons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #480,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "persons" and "prisons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "personals vs persons". 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 #480,191 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.