Which to use
“poise” and “poison” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,600
- “poise” frequency rank
- #6,282
- “poison” frequency rank
- 33882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poise | poison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A state of balance, equilibrium or stability. | A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism when ingested. |
Where the eye mixes poise and poison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. poise runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against poison's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: poise vs poison
A purely visual mix-up. poise (/pɔɪz/) and poison (/ˈpɔɪ.zən/) 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 33882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poise is recorded at frequency rank #27,600, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɔɪz/. poison is at rank #6,282, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔɪ.zən/.
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 33882, this pair ranks #325,557 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poise vs poison
Shared letters: iops. Private to "poise": e. Private to "poison": n.
"poise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poise" and "poison" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "poise" or "poison" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poise" and "poison" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,557 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poise" and "poison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poise vs pons". 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 #325,557 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.