Which to use
“check” and “crick” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #487
- “check” frequency rank
- #36,944
- “crick” frequency rank
- 37431
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | check | crick |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An inspection or examination. | A painful muscular cramp or spasm of some part of the body, as of the neck or back, making it difficult to move the part affected. |
Where the eye mixes check and crick
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between check and crick
A purely visual mix-up. check (/t͡ʃɛk/) and crick (/kɹɪk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
check is recorded at frequency rank #487, classified as anoun, pronounced /t͡ʃɛk/. crick is at rank #36,944, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪk/.
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 37431, this pair ranks #294,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of check vs crick
Shared letters: ck. Private to "check": eh. Private to "crick": ir.
"check" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "crick" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "check" and "crick" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "check" or "crick"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "check" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crick" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "check" and "crick" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crick vs Crist". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #294,648 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.