Which to use
“cocks” and “crooks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,780
- “cocks” frequency rank
- #21,766
- “crooks” frequency rank
- 37546
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cocks | crooks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cock | plural of crook |
Where the eye mixes cocks and crooks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cocks with crooks
A purely visual mix-up. cocks (/kɒks/) and crooks (/kɹʊks/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cocks is recorded at frequency rank #15,780, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɒks/. crooks is at rank #21,766, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹʊks/.
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 37546, this pair ranks #293,647 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cocks vs crooks
Shared letters: ckos. Private to "cocks": -. Private to "crooks": r.
"cocks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "crooks" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cocks" and "crooks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cocks" vs "crooks" - which ranks higher?
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 "cocks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crooks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,647 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cocks" and "crooks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croke vs crooks". 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 #293,647 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.