Which to use
“public” is an adjective and “publish” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #243
- “public” frequency rank
- #6,088
- “publish” frequency rank
- 6331
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | public | publish |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view. | To issue (something, such as printed work) for distribution and/or sale. |
Where the eye mixes public and publish
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. public runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against publish's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: public vs publish
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: public is /ˈpʌblɪk/ while publish is /ˈpʌblɪʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
public is recorded at frequency rank #243, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpʌblɪk/. publish is at rank #6,088, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpʌblɪʃ/.
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 6331, this pair ranks #511,853 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of public vs publish
Shared letters: bilpu. Private to "public": c. Private to "publish": hs.
"public" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "publish" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "public" for "publish" ever safe?
Which is more common, "public" or "publish"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "public" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "publish" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #511,853 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "public" and "publish" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "publish vs purplish". 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 #511,853 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.