PiscesvsplacesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Pisces is a name, places is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Pisces” is a name and “places” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,537
“Pisces” frequency rank
#998
“places” frequency rank
31535
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pisces places
Definition A constellation of the zodiac traditionally figured as a pair of fish with their tails tied by a ribbon. plural of place

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Pisces and places apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
Pisces
6 ch
places

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pisces is /ˈpaɪsiːz/ while places is /ˈpleɪsɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pisces is recorded at frequency rank #30,537, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈpaɪsiːz/. places is at rank #998, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpleɪsɪz/.

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 31535, this pair ranks #345,290 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pisces vs places

Shared letters: ceps. Private to "Pisces": i. Private to "places": al.

"Pisces" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "places" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Piscesipsces · picses · piscces · piscess · piscse · pisecs · pissces · ppisces
  • placeslpaces · palces · placces · placess · placse · plaecs · plcaes · pllaces

Frequency comparison

Pisces#30,537
places#998

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pisces" and "places" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Pisces" is a name and "places" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Pisces" or "places"?
"places" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #998 in our English list, against #30,537 for "Pisces". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Pisces vs places

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Pisces”; for a noun, it's “places”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Pisces” 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