Which to use
“premise” is a noun and “premium” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,384
- “premise” frequency rank
- #4,106
- “premium” frequency rank
- 13490
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | premise | premium |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A proposition antecedently supposed or proved; something previously stated or assumed as the basis of further argument; a condition; a supposition. | Superior in quality; higher in price or value. |
Where the eye mixes premise and premium
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. premise (CCVCVCV) and premium (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses premise with premium
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: premise is /ˈpɹɛm.ɪs/ while premium is /ˈpɹiː.miː.əm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13490, 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/. premium is at rank #4,106, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɹiː.miː.əm/.
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 13490, this pair ranks #475,476 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of premise vs premium
Shared letters: eimpr. Private to "premise": s. Private to "premium": u.
"premise" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "premium" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "premise" and "premium" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "premise" vs "premium" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "premise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "premium" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #475,476 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "premise" and "premium" 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 #475,476 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.