packvspeakWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,224
“pack” frequency rank
#2,847
“peak” frequency rank
5071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pack peak
Definition A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back, but also a load for an animal, a bale. A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap.

Where the eye mixes pack and peak

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

4 ch
pack
4 ch
peak

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pack (/pæk/) and peak (/piːk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pack is recorded at frequency rank #2,224, classified as anoun, pronounced /pæk/. peak is at rank #2,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced /piːk/.

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 5071, this pair ranks #516,691 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pack vs peak

Shared letters: akp. Private to "pack": c. Private to "peak": e.

"pack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "peak" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • packapck · pacck · packk · pakc · pcak · ppack
  • peakepak · paek · peakk · peka · ppeak

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pack" and "peak" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pæk/ versus /piːk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pack" or "peak"?
"pack" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,224 in our English list, against #2,847 for "peak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list