Many usage guides over the years have suggested that there is a clear distinction between these two words; people is used when referring to a collective group or indeterminate number, and persons serves better when referring to individuals or to a number of individuals.

Persons is often used in formal, legal contexts to emphasize individuals as opposed to a group. People is the plural of person that’s most commonly used in everyday communication to simply refer to multiple humans. But people can also be used as a singular noun to refer to a population or particular community.

Most of the time, people is the correct word to choose as a plural for person. Persons is archaic, and it is safe to avoid using it, except in legal writing, which has its own traditional language. Peoples is only necessary when you refer to distinct ethnic groups (for example, within the same region).

In the past, persons referred to a specific number of individuals. Meanwhile, people was used to refer more generally to large groups, or groups whose size was not specified. Today, people has largely replaced persons in all contexts, outside of a few set phrases.

Both persons and people are what we call collective nouns, and both are the plural forms of the singular noun person. Wait, they’re both the correct term? Yes and no. Let me explain. The word people is the most common and de facto plural form, but persons is also grammatically correct, just used less frequently and in more specific contexts.