persons

/ˈpɜː.sənz/

//ˈpɜː.sənz// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"persons" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“persons” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,443. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,443
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
12
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - plural of person, used to refer to them individually, rather than as a group; contrast people

Corpus desk

Index EN-persons · persons · English

persons · rank #3,443 · 11 variants · 12 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,443
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 12 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH output

Nearest frequency peer: output (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “persons”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “persons” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

persons vs prisons
71% similar
persons vs Pierson
57% similar
persons vs person
86% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for persons
PropertyValue
Headwordpersons
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpɜː.sənz/
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,443
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “persons”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).personslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “output” (#3,442), “pitch” (#3,444), “opens” (#3,441). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “persons” is #3,443. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around persons (IPA /ˈpɜː.sənz/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,443 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "plural of person, used to refer to them individually, rather than as a group; contrast people".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for persons, with forms such as "eprsons", "perosns", and "perrsons". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "prisons", "Pierson", "person", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is persons, spelled P-E-R-S-O-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    plural of person, used to refer to them individually, rather than as a group; contrast people

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how persons appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 2007 May 14: The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, Current Population Survey Frequently Asked Questions — Question 5: “Who is counted as unemployed?” Persons are classified as unemployed if they do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior 4 weeks, and are currently available for work.
  2. Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • eprsons
  • perosns
  • perrsons
  • persnos
  • personns
  • personss
  • persosn
  • perssons
  • pesrons
  • ppersons
  • presons

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of persons - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

eprsons2perosns2perrsons1persnos2personns1personss1persosn2perssons1
Edit distance from "persons"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "persons"?
"persons" is spelled P-E-R-S-O-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɜː.sənz/.
What does "persons" mean?
As a noun, "persons" means: plural of person, used to refer to them individually, rather than as a group; contrast people
What words are commonly confused with "persons"?
"persons" is commonly confused with "prisons", "Pierson", "person". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "persons"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "persons" is /ˈpɜː.sənz/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "persons" come from?
"persons" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "persons", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

raising#3,448sisters#3,453helpful#3,432grounds#3,430

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

swimming11 variantsfarmers11 variantsalright11 variantsbelieves11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list