praisesvspremisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“praises” and “premises” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,813
“praises” frequency rank
#6,951
“premises” frequency rank
21764
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature praises premises
Definition plural of praise plural of premise

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set praises and premises apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
praises
8 ch
premises

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. praises (/ˈpɹeɪzɪz/) and premises (/ˈpɹɛmɪsɪz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21764, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

praises is recorded at frequency rank #14,813, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹeɪzɪz/. premises is at rank #6,951, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɛmɪsɪz/.

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 21764, this pair ranks #421,500 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of praises vs premises

Shared letters: eiprs. Private to "praises": a. Private to "premises": m.

"praises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "premises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • praisesparises · ppraises · praiess · praisess · praisses · prasies · priases · prraises
  • premisespermises · ppremises · preimses · premiess · premisess · premisse · premisses · premmises

Frequency comparison

praises#14,813
premises#6,951

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "praises" and "premises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɹeɪzɪz/ versus /ˈpɹɛmɪsɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "praises" or "premises"?
"premises" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,951 in our English list, against #14,813 for "praises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering praises vs premises

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “praises” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list