Which to use
“nicked” is a verb and “nicks” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,359
- “nicked” frequency rank
- #26,523
- “nicks” frequency rank
- 66882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nicked | nicks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of nick | plural of nick |
Where the eye mixes nicked and nicks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. nicked runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against nicks's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: nicked vs nicks
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nicked is /nɪkt/ while nicks is /nɪks/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nicked is recorded at frequency rank #40,359, classified as averb, pronounced /nɪkt/. nicks is at rank #26,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced /nɪks/.
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 66882, this pair ranks #65,976 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nicked vs nicks
Shared letters: cikn. Private to "nicked": de. Private to "nicks": s.
"nicked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "nicks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nicked" for "nicks" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "nicked" or "nicks" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "nicked" and "nicks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nicked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nicks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,976 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nicked" and "nicks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nicked vs Nikkei". 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 #65,976 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.