Which to use
“poison” and “prison” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,282
- “poison” frequency rank
- #1,670
- “prison” frequency rank
- 7952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poison | prison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism when ingested. | A place or institution where people are held against their will, in the US especially for long-term confinement, as of those convicted of serious crimes or otherwise considered undesirable by the government. |
Where the eye mixes poison and prison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: poison vs prison
A purely visual mix-up. poison (/ˈpɔɪ.zən/) and prison (/ˈpɹɪzn̩/) 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 a single letter - o in “poison” becomes r in “prison”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poison is recorded at frequency rank #6,282, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔɪ.zən/. prison is at rank #1,670, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɪzn̩/.
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 7952, this pair ranks #504,811 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poison vs prison
Shared letters: inops. Private to "poison": -. Private to "prison": r.
"poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "prison" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poison" and "prison" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poison" or "prison"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poison" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #504,811 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poison" and "prison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poison vs poon". 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 #504,811 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.