poemsvspressWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,996
“poems” frequency rank
#719
“press” frequency rank
6715
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poems press
Definition plural of poem An instance of applying pressure; an instance of pressing.

Where the eye mixes poems and press

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
poems
5 ch
press

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. poems (/ˈpəʊ.ɪmz/) and press (/pɹɛs/) 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 6715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poems is recorded at frequency rank #5,996, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpəʊ.ɪmz/. press is at rank #719, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɹɛs/.

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 6715, this pair ranks #510,278 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of poems vs press

Shared letters: eps. Private to "poems": mo. Private to "press": r.

"poems" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "press" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poemsopems · peoms · poemms · poemss · poesm · pomes · ppoems
  • pressperss · ppress · prress · prses · rpess

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poems" and "press" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpəʊ.ɪmz/ versus /pɹɛs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poems" or "press"?
"press" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #719 in our English list, against #5,996 for "poems". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list