Populace or populous?
populace is a noun meaning “The common people of a nation”; populous is an adjective meaning “Having a large population”. Use populace as a noun and populous as an adjective. They sound the same (/ˈpɒpjʊləs/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) populous is about as common as populace.
What is the difference between populace and populous?
| populace | populous | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | adjective |
| Meaning | The common people of a nation The inhabitants of a country or one of its administrative divisions (such as a state, province, or county) | Having a large population Spoken by a large number of people |
| Example | The populace despised their ignorant leader | China is the most populous country in the world |
| Forms | populaces | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpɒpjʊləs/ /ˈpɑpjələs/ /ˈpɔp(j)ʊles/ | /ˈpɒpjʊləs/ /ˈpɑpjələs/ /ˈpɔp(j)ʊləs/ |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words | 2.6 times per million words |
Sources: populace and populous in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of populace and populous
populace
- 1
The common people of a nation
The populace despised their ignorant leader
- 2
The inhabitants of a country or one of its administrative divisions (such as a state, province, or county)
populous
- 1
Having a large population
China is the most populous country in the world
- 2
Spoken by a large number of people
Chinese is the most populous language
- 3
Densely populated
The Nile delta is a populous region
- 4
Crowded with people
Airport departure halls are often populous places during the rush hours
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, populace or populous?
populace appears 2.2 times per million words; populous 2.6 times per million words.
populace 2.2 times per million wordspopulous 2.6 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search populace vs populous?
“populace vs populous” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“populous vs populace”, “populace or populous”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.