Which to use
“premise” and “premises” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,384
- “premise” frequency rank
- #6,951
- “premises” frequency rank
- 16335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | premise | premises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition. | plural of premise |
Where the eye mixes premise and premises
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. premise runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against premises's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses premise with premises
A purely visual mix-up. premise (/ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/) 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 extra letter(s) - “premise” sits inside “premises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
premise is recorded at frequency rank #9,384, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/. 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 16335, this pair ranks #458,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of premise vs premises
Shared letters: eimprs. Private to "premise": -. Private to "premises": -.
"premise" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "premises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "premise" and "premises" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "premise" or "premises"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "premise" and "premises" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "premise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "premises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #458,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "premise" and "premises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "premise vs preside". 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 #458,394 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.