# pest vs purest

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### pest
*noun · IPA /pɛst/ · frequency rank #12,295*
A pestilence, i.e. a deadly epidemic, a deadly plague.

### purest
*adjective · IPA /ˈpjʊɹəst/ · frequency rank #22,186*
superlative form of pure: most pure

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pest-vs-purest