pacesvspicsConfusable pair

Which to use

“paces” and “pics” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,348
“paces” frequency rank
#5,531
“pics” frequency rank
28879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paces pics
Definition plural of pace plural of pic

Where the eye mixes paces and pics

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
paces
4 ch
pics

Visual trap between paces and pics

A purely visual mix-up. paces (/ˈpeɪsɪz/) and pics (/pɪks/) 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 28879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paces is recorded at frequency rank #23,348, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪsɪz/. pics is at rank #5,531, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɪks/.

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 28879, this pair ranks #367,561 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paces vs pics

Shared letters: cps. Private to "paces": ae. Private to "pics": i.

"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pics" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pacesapces · pacces · pacess · pacse · paecs · pcaes · ppaces
  • picsipcs · pcis · piccs · picss · pisc · ppics

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paces" and "pics" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpeɪsɪz/ versus /pɪks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "paces" vs "pics" - which ranks higher?
"pics" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,531 in our English list, against #23,348 for "paces". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pics" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #367,561 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paces" and "pics" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paces vs pecs". 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 #367,561 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list