Which to use
“premises” is a noun and “promised” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,951
- “premises” frequency rank
- #3,079
- “promised” frequency rank
- 10030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | premises | promised |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of premise | Predicted; expected; anticipated. |
Where the eye mixes premises and promised
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses premises with promised
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: premises is /ˈpɹɛmɪsɪz/ while promised is /ˈpɹɒm.ɪst/. 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 10030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
premises is recorded at frequency rank #6,951, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɛmɪsɪz/. promised is at rank #3,079, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɹɒm.ɪst/.
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 10030, this pair ranks #494,388 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of premises vs promised
Shared letters: eimprs. Private to "premises": -. Private to "promised": do.
"premises" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "promised" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "premises" for "promised" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "premises" or "promised" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "premises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "promised" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #494,388 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "premises" and "promised" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "penises vs premises". 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 #494,388 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.