pesvsplebsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pes” and “plebs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,668
“pes” frequency rank
#46,110
“plebs” frequency rank
74778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pes plebs
Definition the foot of a human plural of pleb

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pes and plebs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pes
5 ch
plebs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pes (/peɪ̯s/) and plebs (/plɛbz/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pes is recorded at frequency rank #28,668, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪ̯s/. plebs is at rank #46,110, tagged as anoun, pronounced /plɛbz/.

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 74778, this pair ranks #35,249 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pes vs plebs

Shared letters: eps. Private to "pes": -. Private to "plebs": bl.

"pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "plebs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plebslpebs · pelbs · plbes · plebbs · plebss · plesb · pllebs · pplebs

Frequency comparison

pes#28,668
plebs#46,110

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pes" and "plebs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/peɪ̯s/ versus /plɛbz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pes" or "plebs"?
"pes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,668 in our English list, against #46,110 for "plebs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pes vs plebs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list