postedvspostsConfusable pair

Quick tell: posted is a verb, posts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“posted” is a verb and “posts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,146
“posted” frequency rank
#2,265
“posts” frequency rank
3411
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature posted posts
Definition simple past and past participle of post plural of post

Where the eye mixes posted and posts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
posted
5 ch
posts

Why the eye confuses posted with posts

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: posted is /ˈpoʊstɪd/ while posts is /pəʊsts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3411, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

posted is recorded at frequency rank #1,146, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpoʊstɪd/. posts is at rank #2,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pəʊsts/.

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 3411, this pair ranks #522,188 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of posted vs posts

Shared letters: opst. Private to "posted": de. Private to "posts": -.

"posted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "posts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • postedopsted · posetd · possted · postde · postedd · postted · potsed · pposted
  • postsopsts · possts · postss · postts · potss · pposts · psots

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "posted" and "posts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "posted" is a verb and "posts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "posted" or "posts"?
"posted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,146 in our English list, against #2,265 for "posts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "posted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "posts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #522,188 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "posted" and "posts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poops vs posts". 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 #522,188 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list