pimplevspimpsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,880
“pimple” frequency rank
#34,634
“pimps” frequency rank
70514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pimple pimps
Definition An inflamed (raised and colored) spot on the surface of the skin that is usually painful and fills with pus. plural of pimp

Where the eye mixes pimple and pimps

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pimple runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against pimps's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pimple
5 ch
pimps

Look-alike desk: pimple vs pimps

A purely visual mix-up. pimple (/ˈpɪmp(ə)l/) and pimps (/pɪmps/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pimple is recorded at frequency rank #35,880, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɪmp(ə)l/. pimps is at rank #34,634, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɪmps/.

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 70514, this pair ranks #50,288 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pimple vs pimps

Shared letters: imp. Private to "pimple": el. Private to "pimps": s.

"pimple" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "pimps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pimple ← ipmple · pimlpe · pimmple · pimpel · pimplle · pimpple · pipmle · pmiple
  • pimps ← ipmps · pimmps · pimpps · pimpss · pimsp · pipms · pmips · ppimps

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pimple" for "pimps" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɪmp(ə)l/ versus /pɪmps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "pimple" or "pimps" show up more?
"pimps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,634 in our English list, against #35,880 for "pimple". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pimple" and "pimps" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pimple" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pimps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,288 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pimple" and "pimps" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pimps vs poops". 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 #50,288 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list