propvsprosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,112
“prop” frequency rank
#8,713
“pros” frequency rank
18825
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prop pros
Definition An object placed against or under another, to support it; anything that supports. plural of pro

Where the eye mixes prop and pros

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
prop
4 ch
pros

Look-alike desk: prop vs pros

A purely visual mix-up. prop (/pɹɒp/) and pros (/pɹəʊz/) 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 a single letter - p in “prop” becomes s in “pros”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prop is recorded at frequency rank #10,112, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɹɒp/. pros is at rank #8,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɹəʊz/.

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 18825, this pair ranks #442,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prop vs pros

Shared letters: opr. Private to "prop": -. Private to "pros": s.

"prop" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "pros" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • propporp · pprop · propp · prpo · prrop · rpop
  • prospors · ppros · pross · prros · prso · rpos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "prop" and "pros" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pɹɒp/ versus /pɹəʊz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "prop" or "pros"?
"pros" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,713 in our English list, against #10,112 for "prop". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "prop" and "pros" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prop" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pros" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #442,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prop" and "pros" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poops vs prop". 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 #442,313 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list