Which to use
“licks” and “locks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,454
- “licks” frequency rank
- #7,810
- “locks” frequency rank
- 33264
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licks | locks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of lick | plural of lock |
Where the eye mixes licks and locks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: licks vs locks
A purely visual mix-up. licks (/lɪks/) and locks (/lɒks/) 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 “licks” becomes o in “locks”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licks is recorded at frequency rank #25,454, classified as anoun, pronounced /lɪks/. locks is at rank #7,810, tagged as anoun, pronounced /lɒks/.
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 33264, this pair ranks #330,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of licks vs locks
Shared letters: ckls. Private to "licks": i. Private to "locks": o.
"licks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "locks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "licks" and "locks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "licks" or "locks"?
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 "licks" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #330,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licks" and "locks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LIC vs licks". 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 #330,957 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.