Which to use
“please” and “pledge” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #208
- “please” frequency rank
- #7,167
- “pledge” frequency rank
- 7375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | please | pledge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to. | To make a solemn promise (to do something). |
Where the eye mixes please and pledge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between please and pledge
A purely visual mix-up. please (/pliːz/) and pledge (/plɛd͡ʒ/) 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 7375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
please is recorded at frequency rank #208, classified as averb, pronounced /pliːz/. pledge is at rank #7,167, tagged as averb, pronounced /plɛd͡ʒ/.
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 7375, this pair ranks #507,385 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of please vs pledge
Shared letters: elp. Private to "please": as. Private to "pledge": dg.
"please" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "pledge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "please" and "pledge" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "please" or "pledge"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "please" and "pledge" 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 "pledge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #507,385 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "please" and "pledge" 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 #507,385 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.