Which to use
“position” and “positions” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #624
- “position” frequency rank
- #2,363
- “positions” frequency rank
- 2987
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | position | positions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A place or location. | plural of position |
Where the eye mixes position and positions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses position with positions
A purely visual mix-up. position (/pəˈzɪʃ.ən/) and positions (/pəˈzɪʃənz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “position” sits inside “positions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
position is recorded at frequency rank #624, classified as anoun, pronounced /pəˈzɪʃ.ən/. positions is at rank #2,363, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pəˈzɪʃənz/.
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 2987, this pair ranks #523,447 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of position vs positions
Shared letters: inopst. Private to "position": -. Private to "positions": -.
"position" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "positions" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "position" and "positions" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "position" or "positions"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "position" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "positions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #523,447 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "position" and "positions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "positions vs positron". 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 #523,447 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.