English homophones
picks/pics/pix
"picks" (#4,786 written frequency) beats "pics" (#5,531) in this 3-word /pɪks/ cluster. Size rank #30 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 3 spellings keep the same /pɪks/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "picks" leads at #4,786, with "pics" trailing at #5,531.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "pic" then splits - "picks" (5 letters) vs "pics" (4).
- Shared stem "pi" then splits - "picks" (5 letters) vs "pix" (3).
- Shared stem "pi" then splits - "pics" (4 letters) vs "pix" (3).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across picks, pics, pix: ip. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
picks
5 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCCC
Inventory cikps · private cks
pics
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory cips · private cs
pix
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ipx · private x
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "picks" when you mean: plural of pick
- Write "pics" when you mean: plural of pic
- Write "pix" when you mean: plural of pic (“picture”)
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
- peaked · piqued · peeked3-spelling cluster
- pain · Payne · pane3-spelling cluster
- p · pee · pea3-spelling cluster
- Paul · poll · pall3-spelling cluster
- peak · peek · pique3-spelling cluster
- Peking · peaking · peeking3-spelling cluster
- prior · Pryor · Praia3-spelling cluster
- pair · pear · pare3-spelling cluster
What to do next
You've reviewed the 3-spelling cluster (picks, pics, pix). Here's where to go from here.
- "picks" is the most frequent headword in this 3-spelling cluster (rank #4,786 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 3 spellings ranks #30 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 3-spelling cluster: peaked · piqued · peeked. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "picks, pics, pix" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.