Which to use
“princes” and “princess” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,443
- “princes” frequency rank
- #2,850
- “princess” frequency rank
- 14293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | princes | princess |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of prince | A female member of a royal family other than a queen, especially a daughter or granddaughter of a monarch. |
Where the eye mixes princes and princess
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. princes runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against princess's 8 (CCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses princes with princess
A purely visual mix-up. princes (/ˈpɹɪnsɪz/) and princess (/pɹɪnˈsɛs/) 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) - “princes” sits inside “princess”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
princes is recorded at frequency rank #11,443, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɹɪnsɪz/. princess is at rank #2,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɹɪnˈsɛs/.
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 14293, this pair ranks #470,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of princes vs princess
Shared letters: ceinprs. Private to "princes": -. Private to "princess": -.
"princes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "princess" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "princes" and "princess" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "princes" vs "princess" - which ranks higher?
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 "princes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "princess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #470,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "princes" and "princess" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "princes vs prunes". 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 #470,910 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.