Which to use
“please” is a verb and “pleasure” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #208
- “please” frequency rank
- #2,639
- “pleasure” frequency rank
- 2847
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | please | pleasure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to. | A state of being pleased or contented; gratification. |
Where the eye mixes please and pleasure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. please runs 6 letters (CCVVCV) against pleasure's 8 (CCVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between please and pleasure
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: please is /pliːz/ while pleasure is /ˈplɛʒə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
please is recorded at frequency rank #208, classified as averb, pronounced /pliːz/. pleasure is at rank #2,639, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈplɛʒə/.
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 2847, this pair ranks #523,870 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of please vs pleasure
Shared letters: aelps. Private to "please": -. Private to "pleasure": ru.
"please" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "pleasure" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "please" and "pleasure" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "please" vs "pleasure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "please" and "pleasure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "please" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pleasure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #523,870 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "please" and "pleasure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peasy vs please". 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 #523,870 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.