pigvsPikTell them apart

Which to use

“pig” and “Pik” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,384
“pig” frequency rank
#42,047
“Pik” frequency rank
90431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pig Pik
Definition Schwein Farbe im französischen Kartenblatt mit einem schwarzen Lindenblatt als Symbol

Where the eye mixes pig and Pik

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pig and Pik follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
pig
3 ch
Pik

Visual trap between pig and Pik

A purely visual mix-up. pig ([pɪɡ]) and Pik ([piːk]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - g in “pig” becomes k in “Pik”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pig is recorded at frequency rank #48,384, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɪɡ]. Pik is at rank #42,047, tagged as anoun, pronounced [piːk].

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 90431, this pair ranks #47,096 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pig vs Pik

Shared letters: ip. Private to "pig": g. Private to "Pik": k.

"pig" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Pik" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pig" for "Pik" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɪɡ] versus [piːk]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pig" or "Pik"?
"Pik" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,047 in our German list, against #48,384 for "pig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pik" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,096 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pig" and "Pik" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pig vs PMS". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #47,096 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list