Which to use
“positional” is an adjective and “positions” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,044
- “positional” frequency rank
- #2,363
- “positions” frequency rank
- 31407
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | positional | positions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relating to the position of something. | plural of position |
Letter map: positional vs positions
Shared letters muted; letters that set positional and positions apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Part-of-speech tell for positional / positions
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: positional is anadjective and positionsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31407, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
positional is recorded at frequency rank #29,044, classified as anadj. 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 31407, this pair ranks #346,406 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of positional vs positions
Shared letters: inopst. Private to "positional": al. Private to "positions": -.
"positional" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCVC · "positions" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- positional ← opsitional · poistional · posiitonal · positinoal · positioanl · positionall · positionla · positionnal
- positions ← opsitions · poistions · posiitons · positinos · positionns · positionss · positiosn · positoins
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "positional" and "positions" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "positional" or "positions" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "positional" vs "positions" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "positional" 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 #346,406 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "positional" 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 #346,406 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.