# pulse vs pus

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### pulse
*noun · IPA /pʌls/ · frequency rank #6,507*
A normally regular beat felt when arteries near the skin (for example, at the neck or wrist) are depressed, caused by the heart pumping blood through them; the qualitative nature of this beat.

### pus
*noun · IPA /pʌs/ · frequency rank #28,336*
A whitish-yellow or yellow substance composed primarily of dead white blood cells and dead pyogenic bacteria, normally found in regions of bacterial infection.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pulse-vs-pus