Which to use
“pack” and “pick” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,224
- “pack” frequency rank
- #881
- “pick” frequency rank
- 3105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pack | pick |
|---|---|---|
| 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 tool used for digging; a pickaxe. |
Where the eye mixes pack and pick
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. pack (/pæk/) and pick (/pɪk/) 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 - a in “pack” becomes i in “pick”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3105, 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/. pick is at rank #881, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɪk/.
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 3105, this pair ranks #523,088 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pack vs pick
Shared letters: ckp. Private to "pack": a. Private to "pick": i.
"pack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC