Which to use
“dick” and “dock” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,036
- “dick” frequency rank
- #7,218
- “dock” frequency rank
- 9254
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dick | dock |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A male person. | Any of the genus Rumex of coarse weedy plants with small green flowers related to buckwheat, especially bitter dock (Rumex obtusifolius), and used as potherbs and in folk medicine, especially in curing nettle rash. |
Where the eye mixes dick and dock
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dick vs dock
A purely visual mix-up. dick (/dɪk/) and dock (/dɒk/) 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 - i in “dick” becomes o in “dock”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9254, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dick is recorded at frequency rank #2,036, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪk/. dock is at rank #7,218, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɒk/.
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 9254, this pair ranks #498,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dick vs dock
Shared letters: cdk. Private to "dick": i. Private to "dock": o.
"dick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dick" and "dock" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "dick" or "dock" show up more?
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 "dick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dock" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #498,330 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dick" and "dock" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dock vs dox". 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 #498,330 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.