Which to use
“poised” and “promised” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,560
- “poised” frequency rank
- #3,079
- “promised” frequency rank
- 19639
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poised | promised |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Possessing poise, having self-confidence. | Predicted; expected; anticipated. |
Where the eye mixes poised and promised
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. poised runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against promised's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: poised vs promised
A purely visual mix-up. poised (/pɔɪzd/) and promised (/ˈpɹɒm.ɪst/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19639, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poised is recorded at frequency rank #16,560, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɔɪzd/. promised is at rank #3,079, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɹɒm.ɪst/.
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 19639, this pair ranks #436,760 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poised vs promised
Shared letters: deiops. Private to "poised": -. Private to "promised": mr.
"poised" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "promised" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poised" and "promised" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poised" or "promised"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poised" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "promised" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,760 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poised" and "promised" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plied vs poised". 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 #436,760 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.