A number of poisonous mushrooms may resemble this species when they are in their immature button stage and lack a visible stem. Such mushrooms differ from puffballs in that they exhibit the outline of gills and other structures when cut in half, rather than having an interior that is all-white and undifferentiated. In addition, a number of not-recommended or poisonous, terrestrial, brown puffballs are superficially similar in appearance. They differ most obviously in that they grow on the ground rather than from wood.