Which to use
“picture” and “posture” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #777
- “picture” frequency rank
- #12,123
- “posture” frequency rank
- 12900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | picture | posture |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc. | The way a person holds and positions their body. |
Where the eye mixes picture and posture
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses picture with posture
A purely visual mix-up. picture (/ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/) and posture (/ˈpɒst͡ʃə/) 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 12900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
picture is recorded at frequency rank #777, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɪk.(t)ʃə/. posture is at rank #12,123, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɒst͡ʃə/.
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 12900, this pair ranks #478,896 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of picture vs posture
Shared letters: eprtu. Private to "picture": ci. Private to "posture": os.
"picture" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "posture" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "picture" for "posture" ever safe?
Which is more common, "picture" or "posture"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "picture" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posture" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #478,896 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "picture" and "posture" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "postural vs posture". 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 #478,896 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.